When it All Comes Tumbling Down
by ChandaK562
Summary: Another in a series of earthquakes rocks Kingdom Hospital
1. chapter 1

"Lona?" Elmer called as he sat in Lona's dream scanner. He looked nervously up at the ceiling just in time to see it give a slight shudder and for bits of plaster to come floating down. He shook his head slowly.  
It had been like that all day and some of the hallways were now almost white underfoot. Somehow, he didn't think that was a very good sign.  
"Lona, do we really need to do this scan now?"  
  
"Your father's worried about you, Elmer." Lona said as she continued working on the computer. There was annoyance in her tone but it only served to hide her own concern. Elmer was basically healthy. Well,  
as healthy as someone with the sort of dreams that he came up with could be. Why in the world was he suddenly having those seizures and what if they got worse? She wouldn't even let herself think about what could happen to Elmer if that occurred. Suddenly she noticed a blinking light on the machine.  
  
"Just stay right where you are, Elmer," She called as she knelt down, starting to check the computer connections. "Something's loose."  
"Lona?" Elmer called again after a moment, his eyes widening slightly as the hospital shuddered again, larger bits of plaster starting to rain down harder. "Lona, I think we need to...."  
  
"Elmer, just stay there. I'm almost finished," Lona said, real annoyance in her tone this time as she finished adjusting the connections and started to stand. Before she could move, however, the building shuddered once more, harder than either of them had ever felt, harder than the tremor that had trapped Lona and Dr. Havens in the basement with Otto.  
Lona grabbed for something solid but as she moved, her chair slid, smacking into her head and sending her to the ground, barely conscious as a loud roaring sound filled the basement as if the building was trying to rip itself in two.  
  
"Lona?!" Elmer fell to his knees, unable to stand with the floor trembling uncontrollably but determined to get to her. Why hadn't he insisted they get out of her when they could? If anything happened to her.... "Lona!" He drug himself forward, crawling towards the door, glad he hadn't changed into the traditional gown this time. Just as he reached the doorway, however, the building gave another shudder, part of the ceiling caving in right in front of his eyes. He had just enough time to see Lona laying there before a large pipe came crashing down on her, the debris burying her.  
  
"No! Lona!" Elmer screamed, tears starting to sting his eyes as he stared in shock at where she had vanished from sight. No, this couldn't be happening. "Lona!!"  
  
He didn't know how long the earthquake continued after that. It felt like an eternity before it was over, the ground suddenly stable enough for him to pull himself to his feet and to rush forward. He could see one of Lona's hands sticking out from the rubble, the only part of her body visible.  
  
"Lona?" He took her hand, fumbling for a moment as he searched for a pulse in her wrist before finding it, very weak but there. She let out a slight sigh as he grabbed the nearest piece of debris and started to pull.  
"Lona, I'm going to have you out of there in just a few minutes, okay?  
You're going to be just fine."  
  
As he started to drag the debris off of her, he glanced towards the door. "Hey!!" He called. "Can anyone hear me?! We need help in here!" 


	2. chapter 2

Chris leaned her head against Hook's shoulder as they rode in the golf cart heading back towards the main part of the hospital. It was so nice to get away down here, to not have to worry about Stegman and the other strange things going on in the hospital for at least a little while.  
Sometimes she wished they could just stay down here forever.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts." Hook said as he looked over at Chris with a smile.  
  
"Just thinking how nice it would be to stay down here forever. No Stegman. Have you noticed he's been a bit paranoid about the basement lately?" Chris said with a laugh.  
  
"He's been a bit paranoid about Blondi too." Hook chuckled slightly as he thought about that. Okay, some people would say this was a bit out there but it seemed like Blondi knew full well that Stegman was a bit nervous about him for some reason and the dog was taking great delight in popping up in various places to see the nutty doctor cringe. Hook almost thought that the dog had somehow figured out a way to be in two places at once at one point in order to better frighten Stegman.  
  
"When do you think Elmer can get the Klingerman report, anyway?"  
Chris asked Hook. "You know, Lona's been a bit worried about him with the seizures he's had. Has she talked to you about it?" Chris smiled slightly as she thought about Elmer and Lona. Everyone in the hospital knew how Elmer felt about Lona and also knew how Lona had rejected every advance.  
Chris had a sneaking suspicion, though, that Lona's rejections of Elmer might not be exactly what they seemed. When she had seen her friend shortly after Elmer's first seizure Lona had seemed almost panicked and not the sort of panic that could be expected from a doctor worrying over a test subject either.  
  
"She wants me to take a look at him if the next scan she runs doesn't show anything." Hook paused before continuing to speak. Elmer could definitely do some stupid things sometimes but still, Hook found himself slightly fond of the quirky younger doctor. He would hate to see him end up getting hurt due to the Lona situation. "You talk to Lona more than I do. Has she ever said anything about Elmer or...."  
  
"No, she hasn't said anything but...." Chris started to speak but suddenly stopped as plaster begin to rain down from the ceiling in large pieces, worse than she had ever seen it falling before.  
  
"Chris, grab on to something!" Hook called as a loud roaring filled the corridor, the floor now moving beneath the wheels of the golf cart as the hospital shook uncontrollably, seeming like it was trying to rip itself apart and possibly take them with it. Hook gripped the wheel of the cart tightly, trying to find a safe place to get them to. Was this the big earthquake that they had been warned was coming?  
  
Chris grabbed the edge of the cart with one hand, gripping Hook's arm with the other as they barely dodged falling parts of the ceiling.  
Fear was in her eyes and she was barely able to keep from screaming as a pipe came down, almost hitting them.  
  
The cart was completely out of his control now, swinging from side to side as the floor bucked and twisted beneath the wheels. Hook wouldn't let himself give up, however, especially when he looked over at Chris's frightened face. If it had been just him, maybe it wouldn't have mattered as much but he wasn't about to let anything happen to her. The cart tossed across the ground heading for a wall but with one last giant pull of the wheel, he was able to turn it and get them to the entrance to Hook's Kingdom.  
  
"Get down!" He called as he jumped out of the cart, pushing Chris through the door and over towards the bed. They could barely move against the wilding shaking floor but somehow the managed to cross the few feet,  
falling onto Hook's bed, his body on top of Chris as more and more of the ceiling continued to rain down.  
  
It felt like the earthquake lasted forever but in reality it was only a few minutes. Finally, as it faded away, Chris found the strength to speak as she wrapped a shaky arm around Hook. "Have I ever said how glad I am that you have this bed down here?"  
  
"Me too and for more reasons than to have something soft to ride out earthquakes on." Hook said with a chuckle, leaning over her, pressing a kiss against her lips before standing and giving Chris a hand off the bed. Better get on their feet and get moving before the other reasons that he was glad to have a bed down there became too tempting. "We better get moving and see what damage this quake did."  
  
The two slowly moved out of the door to Hook's room, stopping in shock as they exited. The cart was still there, dented but intact, but the corridor leading back to the upper levels of the hospital, the corridor was just suddenly gone.  
  
"Hook?" Chris whispered as she stared in shock at the debris blocking their way out.  
  
"I know." Hook shook his head as he looked at it. This was definitely worse than the last quake that had trapped Lona, Otto and Dr.  
Havens temporarily. "Let's try the other way and see if we can find another way out." 


	3. chapter 3

Elmer stopped tugging at the debris for a moment, reaching down and feeling carefully of the pulse in Lona's wrist once more. Still there, it was still there. That had been his greatest fear each time that he checked, that he would feel and that weak pulse would be gone.  
  
"Lona?" He called her name as he turned back to pulling the debris away from her. He had managed to clear away enough of it that he could see her anyway, but still not enough to free her or really get a good idea of how badly she might be injured. "Lona?" He bit back fear that increased with each moment that passed without a response from her to his calling her name. Why wasn't she responding to him, waking up? How badly had she been hit when that pipe and the ceiling had fallen in on her. Granted, a lot of the broken ceiling debris wasn't impossibly heavy but if it should have hit her in the right spot, he knew that it could do serious damage regardless of its actual weight.  
  
"Lona, I'm going to have you out of there in just a few minutes,  
alright?" He called to her, reaching out and gently touching the bit of her face that he could get to. Her face was okay, anyway, not even a scratch marring her beauty. That was a bit of comfort and yet at the same time, it reminded him eerily of his brother's death. Somehow, after jumping from the hospital roof, the only part of his brother's body to escape injury had been his face.  
  
Elmer closed his eyes for a moment, firmly forcing away those memories of his brother. Now wasn't the time to think about that because he knew that if he allowed those memories to surface even once he would never make them go away again. There was no way that he would allow himself to do that, not while Lona needed him to look after her. He reached out, tugging more of the debris off of her. There wasn't much blood as far as he could tell, not on the debris anyway. Wasn't that possibly a good sign?  
  
"Lona?" He called her name once more as he got the last of the debris off, gripping the pipe and dragging it clear of her body. As he moved the pipe, he noted with a puzzled from that a couple of old magazines with nurses on the cover fell out along with a pile of cupcake wrappers.  
Now how in the world did stuff like that get inside the hospital ductwork?  
  
"I think Johnny B. Goode's skipping on maintence again," Elmer said with a shake of his head as he knelt down at Lona's side, reaching out to check her pulse again with one hand as he placed the other hand on her chest feeling her breathing.  
  
"You're going to be okay," He murmured, hoping that Lona couldn't hear the fear slipping into his voice as he checked her. Her pulse was fast and weak, barely able to be found in her wrist now and he ended up having to feel of the pulse in her neck to get an accurate reading. He could feel her chest moving in a slightly off way as she breathed as well.  
She had to have at least cracked some ribs. His hands slowly ran down her body, hoping she would wake up now and yell at him for touching her. He could feel bleeding from minor cuts and scrapes but nothing serious that he could tell. Lona was so pale though, deathly pale, and as he looked closer, there was a faint bluish tinge to her lips and fingernail beds.  
  
"Lona?" He called her name once more. She was loosing blood, she had to be loosing blood from somewhere but if it wasn't external then she had to be bleeding somewhere inside. As he realized this, fear washed over him. If Lona was bleeding internally....  
  
No, he forced himself to grab control again, to force the panic down once more. Lona needed him and he couldn't let the fear run away with him, not when he was the only person who could take care of her. They were in a hospital. He had no reason to panic even if she did have some internal bleeding going on. They would just get her upstairs and do what they had to to fix it and she would be fine, no problem.  
  
"Lona, I'm going to take care of you, okay? You're going to be fine. Just if you can hear me, try to stay still for a little bit, okay?"  
That was what he was supposed to do in a situation like this, wasn't it?  
Keep her still and comfortable until they could get her upstairs?  
  
Comfortable. He paused for a moment before standing and heading into the lab area, coming back a moment latter with several blankets that he carefully tucked around her. "Okay, that should make you feel better." he said softly as he felt of her pulse once more, turning towards the door and calling as he checked her. "Hey! Is anyone out there? We need some help in here!" Surely someone was out there, would be able to get down here and rescue them soon!  
  
"It's okay, Lona," He whispered again as he took her hand in his.  
"You're going to be just fine." 


	4. chapter 4

"Lona?" Elmer gently felt for her pulse again as he called her name, barely able to keep tears out of his eyes at the sight of the limp,  
motionless body. Why wasn't she reacting, waking up and telling him to stop being such a child? He bit his lip as he felt her pulse, fluttering unnaturally fast. He knew that she had be be losing blood and a lot of it from somewhere inside but there was nothing that he could do about it, not while they were stuck down here. He had been screaming for what felt like forever with no response and the phone lines were down. Did anyone even know there was a problem, that they were trapped down here? He fought to keep control as he thought of that. What if no one realized they were trapped and.... If they didn't get Lona upstairs and treated soon.... He could feel himself starting to hyperventilate as he thought of it. No, how could he loose her like this?  
  
No, with a firm shake of his head he forced him to grab control of himself as best he could. Lona wasn't going to die. He was a doctor, for goodness sakes! If he couldn't think of something to do to save the woman that he loved, then he really was as big an idiot as Lona though he was.  
  
"It's going to be okay, Lona," he whispered, gently holding her hand in his once more before starting to check around the sleep lab for something, anything that he might be able to use to help Lona. This was a hospital. Why in the world weren't there any medical supplies in here? He looked over at Lona as he searched, his movements becoming more frantic at the sight of her pale face. There had to be something in here that he could use to help her! "You really are a loser like Lona and your father think, aren't you?" he murmured under his breath as he frantically searched, barely able to keep from falling apart completely as nothing that would be of any use turned up.  
  
"You probably shouldn't even be a doctor, probably only let you through med school because they felt sorry for your father since his good son was dead." Elmer lowered his head for a moment, despondancy almost overwhelming him. He was sure that if it had been his brother down here he wouldn't be falling apart like this, would have already managed to figure out something to do to help Lona. He knelt down by Lona once more,  
reaching out and holding her hand in one of his as he felt her pulse carefully with the other hand. He could tell even before he checked that she was weakening, though. Her skin was cold to the touch and she was deathly pale. He placed one hand on her chest and could feel that her breathing had grown worse, slow and labored.  
  
"Lona?" Oh, please, don't let what he was suddenly very afraid was happening, be happening. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out and undoing her blouse, something he knew he should have done long before now.  
There was bruising on her left side near the ribs, the discoloration slowly spreading, tension obvious as he gently touched her. He didn't want to check anymore, didn't want to get an idea of exactly how bad this really was, wanted to be able to still hold out some hope. With a stern shake of his head, though, he gently touched her chest, probing slowly to feel the extent of the damage. Her breathing was definately worse, more and more uneven beneath his fingers.  
  
"Lona?" He called her name once more before he leaned down,  
pressing an ear lightly against her chest. He was barely able to keep from crying when even this didn't cause her to stir. She ought to be hitting him in the head for doing something like that with her, for opening her blouse. Why wasn't she responding at all?  
  
A moment later he sat back up, fear washing over him. Punctured lung. One of the broken ribs must have punctured a lung and done goodness knows what other damage to her. And now the injured lung was starting to collapse. No, this couldn't be..... He looked from Lona to the doorway,  
calling once more, "HELP!! Someone please help us!!"  
  
"Lona," He whispered her name, staring into her pale face as he struggled for control. He couldn't let this happen, couldn't just let her die like this. But what could he do to save her? 


	5. chapter 5

It felt like they had been walking forever, strugging through the rubble that had fallen from the ceiling during the quake. Chris looked behind them, only to groan when she could see the doorway that led into Hook's room still. It was going to take forever for them to get out of here!  
  
"Hey, it's okay," Hook said quietly as he wrapped an arm around her, drawing her close as they sat down on the ground, their backs pressed against a fallen pipe. "We're going to get out of here."  
  
"How?" Chris moaned, looking back once more. This quake had definately been bad, worse than any of the others that had shaken the hospital so far. Who knows what it might have done to the floors above?  
Was the hospital even still standing anymore? What if it had finally collapsed like they had been warned could occur? They could be buried alive under here!  
  
"Chris, calm down!" Hook pulled her closer to him as she started to sob, letting her bury her face against his shoulder. He couldn't really blame her for being upset and frightened. He was too. Maybe he wouldn't have been a short time ago when he only had himself to worry about but now that he had Chris.... If anything happened to her.... "We'll get out of here, I promise. It can't be the big earthquake. I didn't hear any bells.  
Did you hear a bell?" he said softly as he rubbed her back.  
  
"No, no bells," Chris said softly as she snuggled deeper into his embrace, her fears fading a little but still there. How were they going to get out of here? They had been calling and calling for help with no response. Did anyone even know they were trapped down here or were things so chaotic upstairs that they hadn't been missed yet?  
  
"We just have to keep going, Chris." Hook said as he slowly stood,  
helping her to her feet but still keeping a protective arm around her shoulders and they moved down the corridor once more. There had to be some way out of here. The only problem was finding it now. They had to get out of here and back upstairs. If other areas of the hospital had been effected, they were going to need every doctor that they could get. And then there were his patients. Hook was especially concerned about Peter Rickman and Mrs. Druse especially with the whole Mary situation.  
  
"Mary, if you're down here, this might be a good time to lend us a hand." Hook murmured under his breath as they pressed forward. A large pipe was dangling down from the ceiling and Hook moved away from Chris's side to shove it out of the way.  
  
"Do you think Dr. James has sent for help yet?" Chris asked anxiously as she looked around the hallway.  
  
Hook shook his head. "Dr. James had a meeting tonight. He won't be back until tommorrow morning." Suddenly he realized something and felt a cold chill running up his spine. With Dr. James not there, who was in charge of the hospital? Please have let him put Louis in charge. Or Liz.  
Or even Nurse Von Trier would be better than who Hook was suddely getting a feeling was running things, Dr. Stegman. Oh, they definately had to get out of there fast. If Stegman was in charge of the hospital for any length of time, who knows the amount of damage that he could do? The man was such an idiot that Hook had a hard time even believing that he had managed to get through med school.  
  
Hook reached out, tugging the pipe out of their pathway just as the hallway gave another sudden shudder.  
  
"Chris!" He shouted her name as plaster started to rain down on them and then, suddenly part of the ceiling broke open, another pipe tumbling free, heading right for the spot where Chris was standing,  
seemingly paralyzed with fear. "Chris!" Hook struggled forward as she suddenly disappeared from view. No, this couldn't be happening, he couldn't just loose her like this! The hallway stopped shaking but his body was still trembling now with fear for Chris's safety. "Chris, where are you?!" He called, frantically, praying for some sort of response but all he heard was silence. 


	6. chapter 6

"Chris!" Hook frantically called her name as he raced to the spot where he had last seen her. His heart was pounding until it felt like it might explode at any moment. She had to be alright, couldn't be....  
  
"Chris!" Okay, hey had only been together a short time and they hadn't really talked to much about the future yet, but Hook just had a feeling about Chris, a feeling that she was the woman for him, the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. If anything had happened to her.  
"Chris?!"  
  
Suddenly he heard a weak cough that slowly increased in intensity.  
"Chris?" It didn't sound like it was coming from under the rubble but then where was she? "Chris?"  
  
"I'm... I'm on the other side!" Chris choked, trying to catch her breath as she coughed up the grit that she had inhaled when the ceiling gave way. She shuddered as she thought of what might be in that. Hopefully not asbestos, anyway.  
  
"Chris?" Hook pulled a bit more of the debris away so that he could see her, a faint sigh of relief slipping out once he could see with his own eyes that she was in one piece and not squished under the pipe and debris like he had feared. He quickly scrambled over the debris, dropping down by her side and drawing her into his arms, burying his face in her dust streaked hair. "I thought that I might have lost you there for a minute." He whispered.  
  
"Careful," Chris said with a smile and a soft laugh. "With Jesse in charge I'm not entirely sure there isn't asbestos still in that ceiling.  
She let herself settle back into Hook's embrace as the fear she had felt when she saw the ceiling coming towards her slowly faded as he held her close.  
  
"I don't care," Hook murmured as he held her tightly, pressing kisses against the back of her neck. Loosing Chris, that was something that he didn't think that he would be able to survive. His feelings for her had deepened without his even realizing and then seeing her in danger,  
thinking that she might die and he would never have a chance to tell her how he felt.... "I love you. I just want you to know that."  
  
He loved her? Chris didn't know what to say to that, it was so unexpected. Their relationship was actually totally unexpected as well.  
SHe certainly hdn't been looking for anyone but the entire situation with Mrs. Druse and little Mary had just some how drawn them together and now she couldn't imagine a time when they would even be apart. She wrapped her arms around Hook, pressing soft kisses against his lips, returning his declaration of love in a way that no words could ever convey properly.  
  
Hook gently held her against him as they sat the floor, kisses increasing in passion, hands starting to reach for clothing. Somewhere in the back of his mind. He vaguely recalled the situation at hand and the fact that they needed to figure out a way to get out of the basement and up to the main floors to help anyone that might have been injured by the quake but with another soft kiss, that was entirely forgotten. Chris was alright and snug in his arms and that was the only thing that mattered to him.  
"I know this might not be the best time for this," he murmured as her reached for the buttons of her blouse with one hand. Okay, he couldn't think of much worse times really. "But will you marry me?" 


	7. chapter 7

Elmer felt Lona's pulse once more, cringing at how weak it was now,  
barely even detectible, her breathing coming in gasps as she tried to draw air into her damaged lung. No matter how hard he tried to fight against it, he felt a tear trickling down his cheek, dropping onto her dead white skin. He reached out, gently touching her face and wiping it away. This couldn't be happening! Why wasn't someone coming to help them? She was going to die if she didn't get help fast! Didn't anyone care or....  
  
"Please, someone help us!" He screamed again, barely able to keep hysteria out of his voice as he looked from Lona to the doorway.  
  
Nothing. Either no one could hear him or the just didn't care,  
Elmer reached out, taking Lona's hand carefully in his, That was the least he could do, hold her hand and comfort her when she.... "No!!" His voice was sharper, harsher than normal, almost unrecognizable as his voice to his ears. He shook his head as he looked down at Lona's pale face. He had lost his mother and his brother and hadn't been able to do anything to save them. That wasn't going to happen with Lona! He wouldn't let it! He could save her and he would somehow! He forced himself to his feet and started to frantically search the sleep lab once more. There had to be something here, he didn't care how makeshift it was, that he could use to help her.  
  
"There's something," He muttered under his breath as he tore drawers open, searching frantically. "And if you weren't such a total loser, you would have found it by now. Your brother would never have acted like this, panicking, giving up instead of...." No matter how Elmer tried to ignore the little voices in his head, they continued to speak, berating him for his shortcomings until he felt that he would sob. He was all too afraid that what they were saying was true and if anything were to happen to Lona because of his failures, he would never forgive himself.  
  
Suddenly Elmer's remonstrances against himself were interrupted when he finally spotted something in a drawer buried under a pile of papers and disks. He reached out with an unsteady hand, picking up the pair of scissors gingerly. Okay, these might work if....  
  
"It's going to be okay, Lona," Elmer said in what he hoped was a confident tone as he started to searche even harder. He had found one thing that he needed. Surely he would find more things as well. This was going to be okay. He would get this patched up and Lona would be just fine. She wasn't going to die.  
  
A couple of minutes later, Elmer was kneeling by Lona's side,  
looking nervously at the things he had gathered as he ran some alcohol from a half empty bottle over the left side of her chest. Okay, this was definately not the way that he had been taught to do this in med school but hadn't he seen it plenty of times on television? It would work. It had to work!  
  
"Lona?" He called her name softly, barely able to stay in control as he noticed that her lips had now taken on a blue tinge. She didn't have much time if he couldn't do something and quickly to get that lung reinflated. He reached out, picking up the scissors, not really sure if he could do this but knowing that he had no other choice at this point, not if he wanted to save Lona's life.  
  
"This might hurt a little," he murmured as he opened the scissors,  
using the edge of one blade, pressing down firmly between two of her ribs as he cut into her chest. Lona lay absolutely still as he probed deeper and deeper into her chest with the scissors, a fact that made Elmer very incomfortable. She ought to have at least tried to flinch, to have reacted in some way to the pain. Why wasn't she.... 'No,' he firmly thought to himself forcing his mind away from that train of thought. He didn't have time to dwell on that now. He had to do what he needed to do to get that lung fixed before he lost her. He could worry about any other injuries later.  
  
"I'm really sorry if this hurts too much," he whispered as he finally felt the lung tissue beneath his fingers, reaching out and cutting into it with the scissors before slipping the rubber tubing from a stethoscope into the opening he had made.  
  
"Okay, it's going to be okay." He moved faster now, frantic to make sure that he did this exactly right or as exactly right as he could manage under the current circumstances. He slipped the free end of tube tubing into another bottle, this one filled half way with water. A moment later, he sighed with relieve when he saw bubbles starting to form in the water and as he carefully felt Lona's chest once more he could feel her breathing changing, not exactly even but slowly returning to a normal pattern.  
  
"It's going to be okay, Lona." He had fixed one problem. Now he just had to find a way to get them out of here. 


	8. chapter 8

Chris stared at Hook in shock, unable to believe that he had really said what she thought she had just heard. "Did you just say...." she finally managed to stammer, her voice shaking with each word. Marriage?  
Was he serious? They had only been together for a few weeks and.... And what if he was serious? Was she ready for something like that, to make such a big commitment?  
  
"I love you, Chris." Hook whispered as he released her for a moment, shrugging out of his lab coat and laying it down on the ground before easing her down on top of it. He softly kissed her lips before continuing to speak. "I know this isn't exactly a traditional time or place but I guess I've never been too traditional." He softly laughed as he kissed her once more. "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"  
  
Chris's eyes widened. He was serious! They were trapped in the hospital basement with no way out that she could see, facing possible death in an earthquake and here he was seriously proposing marriage to her. She shook her head, a small giggle slipping out as she looked up at him for a moment before drawing him down and pressing a kiss against his lips. At least life with Hook would never be dull.  
  
"Chris?" He asked softly. He had hopes that her answer would be affirmative but with every second that passed, he felt a colder and colder feeling building up inside of him. Had he moved to fast, frightened her?  
If he had ruint things by pushing...  
  
Suddenly Chris spoke between giggles, smiling slightly as she observed the now worried expression on his face. Here he had enough nerve to propose to someone while trapped in the hospital basement by an earthquake and he was letting himself get so nervous over what the answer might be? "Yes. This might not be the best spot to be planning marriage but yes I will marry you!" She kissed him once more as her laughter increased. She couldn't believe this. She had been almost paralyzed with fear only minuties before and now she felt like she could take on the world, that nothing could ever make her afraid again. She reached up,  
starting to unbutton the buttons of his shirt as he tugged her blouse free of her skirt. Well, this might fall under the most unusual place to make love catagory.  
  
Suddenly Chris stopped, turning her head to one side as Hook slipped her blouse open. "Did you just hear something?" She asked after a second, looking up at him anxiously. She could swear that she head suddenly heard another voice calling out somewhere further down in the basement.  
  
Hook stopped what he was doing reluctantly, tilting his head in the direction that Chris indicated and listened as well. He didn't hear anything at first but after a moment, he heard what she had detected, a faint voice screaming for help.  
  
"Did that sound like Elmer to you?" Chris asked as Hook pulled himself to his feet before reaching down and giving her a hand up.  
Hook nodded as he fumbled with the buttons of his shirt before scrambling over the pile of debris and reaching back to lift Chris over.  
The voice sounded suspiciously like the young doctor and from the sound of things he was close to total panic.  
  
"I think Lona was going to be running some scans on him tonight."  
Chris said slowly, recalling her last conversation with her friend as she closed her blouse as best she could.  
  
"The sleep lab. Let's go." Hook said and started forward only to pause a moment later. He went back to the pile of debris and fumbled around in it for a moment before reaching out for Chris's hand, a washer in his hand. "This might not be a diamond, but it will have to do until I can get something better." He whispered as he slipped it onto her finger before kissing her once more. "Let's go and see bout Elmer and Lona." 


	9. chapter 9

"Elmer?" Hook called the younger doctor's name as they moved down the hallway as fast as they could. Elmer's cries for help sounded much louder now and Hook and Chris could both hear the terror in his voice.  
Hook shook his head slowly, hoping that Elmer had just been badly shaken by the earthquake but he couldn't quite get rid of the feeling that they might be heading into something very serious.  
  
"Hook?" Elmer called when he finally heard an answering voice in response to his cries for help. "See, Lona." He reached out, taking her hand and holding it carefully in his for a moment. "Everything's going to be fine. We'll be out of here in no time and then we'll get you patched up. You're going to be fine, I promise."  
  
"Elmer, are you okay?" Chris called. something about the fright in Elmer's voice was making her very nervous. "Is Lona down there with you?"  
  
"Yes. Please hurry! She's hurt bad!" He shouted as he continued to kneel by Lona, gently holding her hand in his, the other hand resting on her chest to make sure that she didn't have any more breathing problems.  
  
Chris and Hook looked at each other, a bit of panic definitely starting to set in for them as well upon hearing that Lona had been injured. They hadn't found a way to the upper floors yet. If Lona needed medical attention beyond the basics.....  
  
"We'll help her somehow," Hook whispered to Chris to reassure her as he looked into her eyes and saw serious worry for her friend. "Don't worry."  
  
A couple of minutes later, they finally reached the sleep lab door.  
"Elmer?" Hook called as he pushed the door open, stopping in shock when he caught sight of Lona. She was deathly pale but that wasn't what alarmed him. It looked like Elmer had done something, that there was some sort of tubing sticking out of her side and....  
  
"What happened?" He asked as he dropped to the ground at Lona's side followed a second later by Chris. He reached out. relieved when he found a weak pulse in her neck and felt the faint breathing. He gently moved the blankets slightly aside, frowning when he saw the discoloration on Lona's left side beneath the ribs and the jury rigged chest tube that Elmer had somehow inserted.  
  
"The roof fell in on her and she got hit by a big pipe." Elmer said as he watched Hook with growing worry. He didn't like the way that the other doctor kept looking at that tube he had inserted. Had he done something wrong with it, maybe made her worse somehow? Elmer would never forgive himself if something that he did hurt Lona in any way.  
  
"What happened to her lung?" Hook asked quietly, gently feeling around the discolored area as he did so. He really didn't like the way this was looking. Lona needed to be upstairs and in an OR now.  
  
"I think a broken rib punctured it." Elmer said slowly, sure that he was about to be in trouble for what he had done, even if he couldn't see what other choice that he had had. "The lung collapsed. I waited as long as I could but her lips were turning blue and...." He gently patted Lona's hand, his only thoughts prayers that he hadn't done the wrong thing and hurt her worse.  
  
"Good thinking." Hook noticed the frightened expression on Elmer's face, the look like a puppy dog that knew it was about to be kicked. Hook reached out and gently patted Elmer's shoulder. "You did good, Elmer."  
  
"Can you help me get her out of here?" Elmer asked, a slight warm feeling washing over him as he heard the words of praise. Someone telling him that he did something right for a change. He couldn't remember the last time that something like that had happened. "She's bleeding somewhere." He slowed talking slightly, choosing his words with care now.  
"I think maybe the ribs damaged the spleen too?"  
  
"That makes the most sense." Hook nodded as he finished his inspection of the discolored area as the realization that Lona was definitely needing surgery and the faster the better hit him.  
  
"You know a way out of here, right?" Elmer asked in a slightly panicked tone. He knew how much blood a person could use from a damaged spleen. If they didn't do something fast....  
  
Hook was silent for a moment, rapidly running over the possible options in his mind. They obviously couldn't get back to the main parts of the hospital the way that they had come and even if there was a way out in the other direction, the time that it might take to find it looked seriously like time that Lona didn't have. No, they couldn't wait to get her upstairs. They would have to do the surgery down here.  
"Get one of the mattresses from the beds." Hook said finally.  
"We'll need something to carry her on."  
  
"We can get her upstairs, right?" Elmer asked anxiously.  
Hook hesitated for a moment before speaking. "No, there isn't time to keep looking for a way out. We're going to have to do the surgery down here. Get one of those mattresses and let's see about getting her down to the morgue. They should have most of the supplies that we need in there." 


	10. chapter 10

"What do you mean you're going to do the surgery down here?" Elmer demanded as he stared at Hook in shock. Oh, great. Wasn't this just his luck? Here he had found help only to have it turn out that Hook had lost his mind. They couldn't just do an operation any place!  
  
"We don't have a choice, Elmer." Hook said with a shake of his head as he stood and hurried into the lab with Chris at his side. "The way that we came is definitely blocked and who knows how long it might take us to find another way out. Lona's loosing too much blood internally. She doesn't have the time it might take to try to find a way out. We don't get in there and get that bleeding stopped fast, she won't make it."  
  
"But...." Elmer looked down at Lona with fear in his eyes. He had known that she had been hurt badly, of course, but there was something about Hook confirming the seriousness of the situation that made things feel a million times worse. If he was just relying on his own ability to diagnose, then he could halfway convince himself that he was probably just panicking and making things seem worse than they really were.  
  
"Elmer, it's going to be okay." Hook said gently as he and Chris drug the mattress back in and set it down at Lona's side. Okay, it probably wasn't the best they could do for a stretcher but they would have to work with what they had. Speed was of the essence right now. "Just think of the morgue as another operating room. They just usually operate on dead people down there."  
  
Operate on dead people. Now that stirred yet another worry with Elmer as between the three of them, they lifted Lona onto the mattress,  
making sure that the tube in her chest stayed correctly positioned as they moved her. "What about an anesthetic?" Elmer demanded. "How likely is it that they're going to have an anesthetic down in the morgue since most of the people they work on certainly aren't going to be in need of pain killers?"  
  
"We'll figure that out when we have to." Hook said, trying to hide the fact he wasn't exactly sure what they could do for anesthetic. Without the proper equipment he was a bit hesitant to try to put Lona under but at the same time he knew that some sort of pain killer would definitely be in order. He reached out, gripping the top of the mattress. "Okay, Elmer,  
you get the bottom. Chris, I need you to keep an eye on that chest tube,  
okay, and make sure it stays in place. We loose that and we will have a situation on our hands."  
  
Chris nodded, looking at Hook with worry in her eyes as the two men lifted the mattress. It dipped slightly in the middle with Lona's weight as they started towards the door with Chris walking along side. She reached out and took her friend's hand, keeping one eye on the chest tube as she did so. Chris agreed with Hook that they definitely had to do something to stop that bleeding and the sooner the better but she still wasn't one hundred percent convinced that trying to do the surgery down here was the smartest thing. Okay, the morgue was equipped for an operation in theory but since they mainly operated on dead people..... What other choice did they have, though? Chris couldn't even feel a pulse in Lona's wrist anymore and her breathing was extremely slow and shallow. She bit her lip, trying to keep the fear from showing. She wasn't even sure if Lona could last long enough for them to get her into the morgue and get set up to operate.  
  
As they approached the morgue doors, they suddenly heard a voice call out, "Is someone out there?"  
  
"Dad?" Elmer called back. That had sounded like his father but....  
  
"Elmer?" Yes, it was definitely Louis. Elmer could tell that now.  
"What's going on out there?"  
  
"Another earthquake." Hook said with a shake of his head. They really were going to have to consult with Mrs. Druse soon to figure out what they could do to stop these quakes. If they got much stronger.  
"Louis, can you hold the door open for us? We've got a bit of an emergency on our hands."  
  
"What happened?" Louis demanded as he pushed the door open,  
peering closely at the group as they entered.  
  
"Over there. We'll explain in a minute." Hook said as the carried the makeshift stretcher over to the nearest morgue table and sat it down on the floor beside it. He knelt down, feeling Lona's slowly fading pulse for a moment before surveying the room to see what supplies they had to work with. "Okay, first things first. There should be blood in here. We need to get an IV in and get that started fast."  
  
"What's going on?" Louis demanded again as he approached. Hook looked up, his eyes suddenly widening a bit. Instead of taking a direct path to them, Louis had reached them by edging along the wall and then along the morgue table as well. Suddenly, Hook had a suspicion that they might have two patients on their hands instead of one.  
  
"Part of the ceiling in the sleep lab collapsed on Lona and she got hit by a pipe." Elmer said as he looked up at his father for a minute before turning his attention back to Lona once more. The movement from the lab down to the morgue had definitely weakened her. Could she actually handle the surgery now? He frantically struggled to push aside the images of Lona dying despite their best efforts.  
  
Hook reached out for a moment, laying a comforting hand on Elmer's shoulder before standing. "We're going to fix this, Elmer." he said in a gentle tone before motioning for Chris to join him. "Just stay there and keep an eye on her. Make sure that tube doesn't slip."  
  
"What do you want me to do?" Chris asked as she joined Hook.  
  
"Get the blood and an IV set up." Hook said, his mind running over what they needed, even as he watched Louis carefully. "There should be a crash cart in here. That ought to have most of the drugs that we need.  
Scapels, clamps. The basics for surgery or as close as you can come to them."  
  
As Chris scurried around the room, Hook approached Louis. "What happened?" he asked in a quiet tone so that Elmer couldn't hear.  
  
"One of the lights came down and I got hit on the head." Louis said as he peered anxiously in the direction of his son. "Everything's basically a blur." He paused for a moment before continuing to speak.  
"Don't tell Elmer. If Lona's as bad as you're saying, he doesn't need anything else to worry about." 


	11. chapter 11

Elmer glanced over at his father and Hook, wondering for a moment why Hook was looking so worried before turning his focus back to Lona again. He knew the moment that he looked at her that something was wrong.  
He laid one hand on her chest as he felt for a pulse. Panic washed over him momentarily before he found a faint, unsteady beat and felt her chest trembling slightly with weak breathing. Something wasn't right, though.  
Her breathing, it felt like each breath could be her last, like something was running down inside of her. "Hook? Dad? One of you get over here now!" He called, panic in his voice. No, they were so close to being able to help her. They couldn't lose her now. He reached out, rubbing her hand between both of his, trying to stimulate some sort of response.  
  
"Chris, we need that blood and the IV setup now!" Hook called as he crossed the room, Louis just a bit behind him. He dropped to the ground by Lona, gently feeling her pulse and breathing. He forced the fear back at the feel of that rapidly weakening beat, converting it into anger instead. No, they were not going to lose Lona now! He reached out, taking the IV setup as Chris hurried over.  
  
"We'll handle that," Louis said in a firm tone as he reached up and took the blood. They didn't have much time and even if he couldn't see, he could insert an IV line by feel alone, he was sure. He looked up once more in Chris's general direction. "There's a supply closet down the hall that Johnny's never bothered to clear out. They should have a respirator in there. Old fashioned but it ought to still work."  
  
Hook paused for a moment as Chris hurried away, knowing that he should get moving and get things set up but at the same time reluctant to allow Louis to carry out any medical tasks with his vision so impaired.  
  
"Hook, I can do this." Louis said firmly. "I think I did them in my sleep a few times. I can manage now. Get things ready."  
  
As Hook moved away, he looked over at his son, the fear in Elmer's eyes almost breaking his heart. No, vision messed up or not, he wasn't going to let anything happen to Lona, wasn't going to let Elmer go through the pain he had with Emma, seeing someone you loved dying and being helpless to aid them.  
  
"Hold her arm steady for me. This might be a little tricky if her veins have started collapsing." He ordered Elmer as he gently felt of Lona's arm for a moment before tying the piece of rubber right above her elbow. "You didn't get hurt during the quake?"  
  
"I'm fine but Lona...." Elmer watched his father carefully as he went about starting the IV. He was moving much slower than Elmer would have liked, given how despirately he knew that Lona needed that blood,  
gently prodding Lona's arm again and again before slowly inserting the needle and beginning to work the IV hookup into place.  
  
"Here, Hold this," Louis said as he attached the bag of blood to the tubing and then thrust it into Elmer's hands. "Keep it up and try to apply some pressure if you can. We need to get that in as fast as possible." As he talked, he gently felt Lona's chest, checking for any injuries that might have been missed. Suddenly, his fingers brushed the tubing in her side and he stopped with a puzzled frown. "What in the world?"  
  
"Her lung collapsed, " Elmer said slowly, knowing that he was about to get yelled at for what he had done. Okay, so Hook had praised him but did that really mean anything? Hook was probably just being nice and now his dad would point out all of his shortcomings.  
  
Louis gently felt around the tubing before speaking. "You got this from a stethoscope, right? Clever, very clever," He said as he reached out for a moment and gently patted his son's shoulder.  
  
Clever? Did his father just actually praise him? Elmer shook his head slightly not really sure he had just heard what he thought he did just as Chris came in the door dragging an old style respirator. Hook looked at it for a moment before nodding his approval and returning to Lona's side once more.  
  
"Let's get her on the table." He said as he reached down and between him, Elmer and Louis, gently lifted her up, making sure not to pull the chest tube. "Elmer, get the rest of her blouse off. We don't want that in the way when we're cutting." he said softly ash he started to check the instruments that were now sitting out on tables nearby. It was definately less than he was used to working with but it would have to do.  
  
"What about an anesthetic?" Elmer demanded as Hook finished checking the supplies and crossed to the lab sink with Chris to get ready.  
"You have to give her something!"  
  
"We can give her something through the IV to make her woozy if she starts to wake up but we just don't have the equipment to put her under totally." Hook said as he pulled on a pair of gloves.  
  
"You're going to operate without any pain killers?" Elmer said,  
shock and horror in his voice. How could they just.... Wasn't that against some sort of basic human principle? He looked down at Lona,  
conflicted. He knew that she needed the surgery, was going to die without it, but the idea of her being cut open without some sort of pain killer....  
  
"We can use locals as we cut," Hook said gently before issuing more orders. Best to give Elmer something to do even if he didn't look the steadiest at the moment. "Elmer, help your father get a breathing tube in and get her hooked up to that respirator." Luckily there was a connection to the hospital's oxygen tanks in there. He watched for a moment as Elmer and Louis worked before reaching out and picking up one of the scalpels. He looked carefully at the injured area, planning what he would need to do until he heard the steady hiss of the respirator as it started to run.  
  
"Okay, we go in and get that bleeding stopped as fast as we can.  
In and out quickly. This isn't exactly set up for people who are still alive and we don't want to risk having an open incision here for too long.  
Elmer, Louis, keep an eye on the respirator, her pulse and those blood bags. Let me know if her vitals drop too much. Chris, you're assisting me."  
  
Elmer couldn't even bring himself to look as Hook made the first cut into her abdomen. He leaned down, barely able to hold back hi tears as he pressed a gentle kiss against her forehead. "It's going to be alright,"  
he whispered softly. "Just hold on, please." 


	12. chapter 12

"Mary, what's wrong?" Peter said when the little girl came into his room followed by Antubis. There was definately a seriously worried expression on the child's face as she walked over to his bedside. "What did the earthquake do?" Peter had been seriously worried when the earthquake had first started that it was the big one that Mary had predicted, the one that would kill hundreds.  
  
"Honey?" Natalie said as she looked at her husband. Natalie knew that Peter could hear her, that mentally he was fine but why couldn't he just talk to her. "Peter, is someone here?" She looked in the direction that Peter was staring at but she couldn't see anything. She tentively stretched out a hand, slowly feeling the air. Wait a minute. She felt something, not really solid but a definite warm feeling on her skin. "What is that?" she whispered. "Peter, who's here? Mary?"  
  
'Really too bad you can't tell her to scratch a bit lower. Very nice hands there.' Antubis said with a soft chuckle as he tilted his head forward slightly so that Natalie's probing fingers brushed against the space behind his ears.  
  
"Antubis, we don't have time for this." Mary gave the large anteater a serious look. "Peter, there's something really wrong downstairs. Will you come with me so that I can show you?" The little girl reached out her hand to him and he willingly took it, slipping out of his body and heading out of the room with Mary.  
  
"I'll be back as soon as I can, Nat!" He called although he knew that she couldn't hear him. "Mary, what's going on?"  
  
'The earthquake did a lot of damage downstairs in the basement."  
Mary said as she led Peter though the wall and into the in between space that would lead them down to the basement. "Some of the doctors got stuck."  
  
"Stuck in there pretty good, it looks like." Peter said as they appeared in the basement, right in front of a large pile of rubble blocking access to the other side of the hallway. "Wait a minute." Peter looked around and was surprised that the only other creature there besides them was a large German Shepard. "Shouldn't they have crews down here trying to get this cleared?"  
  
"That's the problem." Mary said softly, waving for Blondi to come over as she talked. "Peter, this is Blondi. Blondi, couldn't you convince Otto to come down here?"  
  
'No," the dog said, sniffing around Peter as he spoke. 'He's playing cards with Bobby Druse and losing big time. How can you lose at Old Maids? He hasn't even noticed that all of the basement cameras are out."  
  
"And Otto would be?" Peter asked.  
  
"The security guard. Come on." Mary said as she led Peter through the pile of debris with Antubis following behind her. "They're down this way."  
  
The security guard is playing Old Maids and missed an earthquake.  
I feel so secure here now." Peter shook his head as he let Mary lead him along.  
  
"They're in here," Mary said after several minutes of walking.  
She waved her hand towards a room labeled morgue before leading Peter through the door.  
  
"Hook?" Peter said as he spotted his doctor kneeling beside someone on the floor. He walked cautiously over and saw the female doctor that he and Mary had seen down in the MRI room laying on a mattress,  
obviously injured with the younger doctor hovering anxiously by her side.  
"Mary, what happened?"  
  
"Part of the ceiling fell on Dr. Lona when the earthquake hit and she got hurt." Mary dropped to the floor between Elmer and his father,  
reaching out and gently touching Lona's cheek as she bit her lip to hold back tears. "She's going to die if she can't get an operation soon."  
  
"So.... They're going to try to do surgery in here?" Surgery in the morgue. Now that was a really cheery place to have your operation.  
They could just move your body to one of those little boxes in the wall if things didn't go so well. "Mary, why isn't anyone looking for them? I would hope the hospital doesn't lose five of their doctors with a lot of regularity."  
  
"That's the other problem." Mary stood and moved back to Peter's side. "Someone does know where they are but.... Let me show you."  
  
Peter stood. looking at the group of doctors for a moment before turning and allowing Mary to lead him back out the door. They started back toward the main part of the hospital and after a few minutes, the little girl led him through a door labeled Stegman.  
  
"Listen," she whispered as she motioned for Peter to move forward so they could hear Stegman and Brenda.  
  
"You're sure Hook was down in the basement when the quake hit?"  
Brenda asked, her voice almost giddy with excitement.  
  
"Positive and the way that that place is torn up, there's no way that he isn't dead. Or if he's still alive by some chance, then there's no way that he'll stay that way for long!" Stegman laughed at he spoke. Hook had always thought that he was so smart but now he had the upper hand.  
  
"What about the others, Christine, Dr. Traff and that oddball son of his and Dr. Massingale?"  
  
"Collateral damage, I'm afraid." Stegman shook his head as he lifted Brenda up and swung her around the room for a moment before they started to kiss.  
  
"Mary, I really don't think you should be seeing this." Peter frowned as he looked down at the little girl.  
  
"It's not as bad as what Dr. Lona and Elmer did in the morgue. Dr.  
Stegman doing naughty things isn't really... nice, though." The little girl said slowly with a shake of his head.  
  
'Right. He could reproduce and contaminate the gene pool with his stupidity.' Antubis moved across the room to Stegman. 'I could fix that worry, you know. Just one little bite and....'  
  
"Antubis, behave. We don't have time for that now. Listen!" Mary cried.  
  
"And now with Hook out of the way and that old biddy Druse safely locked up," Stegman said as he broke away from Brenda. "it's time for you and I to take care of that little Mona Klingerman problem once and for all.  
One little "slip" down the stairs and everyone will think it was an accident due to the earthquake."  
  
"Mona's my friend." Mary whispered. "We've got to help her! And we have to help Dr. Hook and the others too."  
  
Peter glared at Stegman for a moment before taking Mary's hand and heading out the door, determination washing over him. No way was he letting six people die here tonight. He just hoped that he could make Natalie understand the situation. 


	13. chapter 13

"Peter, Honey?" Natalie had been sitting by her husband anxiously watching him ever since he had slumped back onto the bed over ten minutes before. Common sense said that she should call for a doctor but what could one do for him, really? She had a feeling that whatever was wrong with Peter at the moment, was supernatural, not medical, in nature.  
  
Suddenly Peter sat up once more, his hand reaching out for his paper and pencil as his wife gave a little gasp of surprise.  
  
"Peter, we have to stop Dr. Stegman and save Mona and the others."  
Mary said softly, tears starting to form in her eyes. How could someone want to hurt her friend? Mona was helpless! There had to be something that they could do to protect her but Mary couldn't even begin to think of what it might be. Without Mrs. Druse to help interpret things for them....  
  
"Don't cry, Mary." Peter said as he looked at the little girl.  
"Natalie's smart. She can figure out what we need her to do if we give her the right clues. Now, what does this Mona look like?" The situation in the basement could wait for a bit, he thought. There were four other doctors down there. Surely they would be able to help their colleague until a rescue could be arranged. Mary's friend, on the other hand, had no one but them to help her.  
  
"Here. I'll show you." Mary said as she reached out and took Peter's hand, moving it across the paper. She didn't really know how to draw herself but when she was working through Peter like this it was like her memories intertwined with his talents somehow.  
  
"What's that you're drawing, Honey?" Natalie asked as she leaned forward to watch a face rapidly taking shape on the paper. It was a little girl and for a moment she thought it was Mary but the facial shape was all wrong for that and there was something odd about the eyes, a kind of blankness like the little girl wasn't really aware. "Peter? Who is she?"  
  
Natalie watched as a moment later, Peter wrote four words on the paper. Mona. Okay. She reached out for the drawing, holding it in front of her and silently staring at it for a few moments, trying to put together what it might mean. Maybe she should call and see if Mrs. Druse could come up to help them to figure this out? Something about the expression in that little girl's face was so compelling, calling out for help almost.  
  
'Unfortunately, Mrs. Druse is a bit tied up at the moment'  
Antubis said as he moved closer to the bed to see if he could help Mary and Peter. Honestly, Mary should really have let him bite Stegman.  
  
"Peter, this little girl is obviously a patient here." Natalie said slowly. "Does she need some sort of help?"  
  
Mary reached out, nodding Peter's head for him as a bit of hope slowly formed. Maybe they could make Peter's wife understand. She seemed nice. Surely if they could make her understand she would help them to save everyone.  
  
Okay. She had already guessed that the little girl needed help but having it confirmed was good. What sort of help, though? "Is she sick?  
Does she need a doctor?"  
  
No, not sick. Natalie watched as Peter shook his head no, glancing down at the drawing again looking for some sort of clue to guide her.  
There was something about the little girl's eyes.... "Peter, did someone hurt her? Is someone going to do something to hurt her?"  
  
Yes, that was it! Natalie almost felt like shouting with triumph that she had been able to figure this out without help, just her, Peter and she had a feeling Mary. "Okay." She looked down at the paper once more.  
If someone was going to hurt the little girl, then they obviously needed to do something to protect her. But if a doctor wasn't who she should call.... She stood and headed for the door. "Peter, I'm going to go downstairs and see if I can find this Mona and bring her up here. That should be safe enough. I'll be right back."  
  
"Do you think she'll get there in time?" Mary asked Peter softly.  
  
"Natalie's smart. She won't let anything happen to your friend.  
Now how about we go back down to the basement? I want to take another look, see what we might be able to do to help them."  
  
"Okay," Mary said as she reached out her hand, taking Peter's and leading him away once more as his body fell back onto the bed.  
  
Natalie slipped off the elevator and made her way into the pediatrics ward, hoping that at this hour, that the nurses would be occupied or maybe relaxing while all of the children were sleeping. She didn't even want to try to explain why she was roaming around their floor with a drawing trying to find some strange child. Mona. That was an unusual enough name. How many Monas were likely to be here? She slipped from door to door, peering closely to read the names written next to them.  
Amy, Hunter, Alex, Sarah. No Mona. She stopped for a moment, ducking back into the shadows as a nurse passed by before scurrying to the next room.  
Yes, this was it! Mona!  
  
"Hello?" She called softly as she slipped inside. Yes, definately the right place. There was the little girl that Peter had drawn sitting on the bed, swaying back and forth as she stared into nothingness. Natalie slowly approached, a bit nervous now that she was here. Something was obviously wrong with the little girl. What if she did something and made her worse? If she was in danger though....  
  
"Hello." she said again as she reached the bed. "You don't know me but my name's Natalie. Someone sent me down here to find you. Do you know a little girl named Mary? Is she your friend?"  
  
Mary. Something changed slightly in the girl's eyes at the mention of the name or maybe it was the word friend that did it. She turned her head slightly and looked at Natalie now although her eyes appeared to be blank still.  
  
"Okay, Mary sent me down here to get you and take you upstairs. Do you think you can come with me?" Natalie asked as she reached out, taking the child's hand and helping her off of the bed. At least she could walk.  
That was one good thing. As she led the little girl towards the door, she noticed the paint splashed about on the walls. "Do you like to paint? My husband paints. If you want me to, I can show you some of his drawings.  
We have to be very quiet right now though."  
  
Natalie and Mona slipped out the door and moved down the hallway slowly, hugging the wall. Suddenly, Natalie heard the elevator ding just in time to pull Mona into the shelter of the nearest room before the elevator passengers could exit. She cautiously peeked out as two doctors headed down the hallway. She barely suppressed a shiver. She definitely had a bad feeling about them, something that was confirmed as they entered Mona's room.  
  
"Come on, sweetie. Let's get you out of here before they realize that you're missing." Natalie hustled the little girl out of the room. No time to wait for the elevator. She hurried Mona into the nearest stairwell and started up. She just hoped that they didn't think to check there before they reached the safety of Peter's floor. 


	14. chapter 14

Louis looked in his son's direction shaking his head slightly as he did so. Why in the world was everything a blur except for the worry in Elmer's eyes?  
  
"Elmer, here. I want you to keep an eye on that lung," Louis said as he reached out, taking his son's hand and gently positioning it on Lona's chest near the location where the chest tube had been positioned.  
Louis shook his head slightly as he thought of what Elmer had done.  
Honestly, he didn't know why Elmer didn't seem to realize that he really was very smart when he put his mind to it. "Just watch and make sure that doesn't start to collapse again from the respirator." These older machines were a bit harder to adjust properly.  
  
Elmer's eyes widened slightly, his face reddening a bit, when his father moved his hand onto Lona's chest, when he realized exactly what he was touching. He had been too panicked back in the lab, to despirate to save her to really pay attention to the fact that he was touching her breast but... Fear washed over him once more though. Lona ought to have reacted to that considering how upset she got with him for just flirting with her. Why wasn't she reacting?  
  
Hook and Chris had pretty much tuned Elmer and Louis out, focusing on getting the bleeding stopped as quickly as possible. Hook shook his head as he reached in, feeling quickly but as gently as possible, trying to find the exact source of the bleeding. Blood, there was so much blood, too much blood.  
  
"Chris, can you try to get in here? You might be able to reach it better than I can." Hook said as he removed his hand, motioning for Chris to give it a try instead. He fought down a feeling of panic as he watched Chris trying to find the blood source. Blood was gushing out now that they had Lona opened up. If they didn't get that stopped fast.... He had to fight down a wave of frustration as he watched. If they were upstairs in a proper operating room, he knew that they would be able to fix this relatively easily but without the proper equipment, Lona's chances were going downhill fast. Why in the world wasn't someone down here trying to locate them?  
  
"Louis, how's the blood supply holding out?" Hook asked quietly.  
She was bleeding out almost as fast as they could force the blood into her.  
  
"Surprisingly, it's actually holding out," Louis said as he reached up, filling the bag of blood that was currently running and reaching for another one. "Want us to try to get another line in?"  
  
"Probably a good idea." Hook said with a nod. "That chest tube still working?"  
  
Elmer nodded, not trusting himself to speak at the moment, his eyes moving back and forth from what he was supposed to be doing monitoring Lona's breathing to the blood that seemed to be practically a fountain.  
How could she lose all of that blood and possibly have a chance of survival? "Dad?" He whispered softly as he glanced over at his father.  
  
"Just keep an eye on her breathing. She's going to be fine."  
Louis told Elmer as he reached into the crash cart, carefully feeling until he located another of the IV set ups and moved to Lona's other side to get it running. In a way he was glad that he couldn't see what was going on,  
afraid that it would remind him of what happened the night that Emma died but if he could see, then maybe he could help, could do something to try to save her. 'Except you couldn't save the woman you loved, now could you'  
A voice in his head taunted him. 'What makes you think you could save the woman your son loves either?'' He shook his head slightly trying to block that voice out, trying to force himself to concentrate on his job,  
inserting the IV line slowly, relying on feel to get it in. No, Lona wasn't going to die, not like Emma had died. He wasn't going to let her,  
let Elmer go through another loss.  
  
Suddenly Chris let out a soft noise, almost like a muffled cheer.  
"Got it!" She called to Hook. motioning for him to come over as she moved the spleen a bit as Hook carefully inserted a hand in the incision as well.  
"It looks like the rib nicked the artery. Do we try to remove it or...."  
  
"How's she holding up?" Hook called to Louis and Elmer. He wanted to try repairing the spleen if at all possible but if Lona was too weak,  
they would have no choice but to remove it.  
  
"Relatively stable." Louis said as he gently felt Lona's pulse.  
It was weaker than he would have liked for it to have been and rapid but.... "You can try to repair, I think. If she starts going downhill,  
you can always changeover to a removal."  
  
"Dad?" Elmer whispered as he looked up at his father. He didn't really care what Hook and Chris did as long as it fixed things, saved Lona.  
She was just so pale, though, and still. Why hadn't she regained consciousness at all since the accident? Shouldn't she have woke up or something even for just a minute? And the amount of blood that she had lost, he thought he had read something about that degree of blood loss doing damage or....  
  
"Why don't you try talking to her?" Louis said quietly. "If she can hear at all, it might help her."  
  
Elmer slowly nodded, he kept one hand on her chest as he leaned down and put his mouth near her ear, hoping that it would help her hear him if she could at all. "It's going to be okay, I promise." he whispered to her. "Chris and Hook and my dad and I are going to take care of you and get you fixed up. You're going to be okay. Just hold on for us for a little longer, okay?" He bit his lip to keep from crying. He wanted despriately to believe that things would be okay but when he saw the amount of blood on the table, dripping to the floor.... 'Please, let someone find us quick!' 


	15. chapter 15

"Okay, right in here." Natalie said as she led Mona into Peter's hospital room. She had been terrified the entire time that they had been quietly climbing the stairway that those doctors would think to check there and catch them. She still wasn't sure exactly what in the world was going on but she definitely felt that they had something very unpleasant in mind for Mona if they had caught her. Why would someone want to hurt a child,  
though? Mona seemed perfectly harmless to her.  
  
Natalie shook her head when she saw that he was laying slumped back on the pillows again. "I wish I knew what he was doing when that happens."  
She said with another shake of her head as she led Mona to a chair and settled the little girl in, gently stroking the child's hair for a moment to reassure her. "Okay, sweetie, my husband's apparently otherwise occupied at the moment so it looks like we'll have to wait a little bit to find out what in the world is going on here."  
  
Although Mona looked perfectly content to sit in the chair, swaying back and forth, Natalie looked around for something that might better occupy the child anyway. She reached out, snagging a pencil and some of Peter's paper. She was sure that he wouldn't mind sharing. "Here. Would you like to try to draw something, sweetie?" She pressed the pencil into Mona's hand and settled the pad of paper onto her lap. Okay, considering the blank look on the little girl's face, Natalie wasn't sure how well this would work but she saw no harm in trying. She reached out, picking up Peter's drawing of Mary, hoping it might give Mona an idea. "Here,  
sweetie. My husband drew this. Is it of your friend?"  
  
Mona reached out, touching the picture, something changing slightly as she did so. Natalie wasn't sure what in the world was going on as she watched in silence as the child stared at the picture before gripping the pencil and starting to move her hand across the piece of paper. "What is that?" She whispered softly as she watched Mona draw. This was all starting to remind her of the condition that her husband was currently in.  
What in the world was wrong with this little girl? Could it be that she was experiencing the same thing that Peter was only she had no one to help her? "We'll help you, sweetie. I promise."  
  
Suddenly Mona stopped drawing and looked up with a slight smile,  
starring at something that Natalie couldn't see as Peter sat up in bed once more. "Is Mary here?" Natalie asked quietly. She could feel something slightly, now, like someone that she couldn't see, could only feel was moving across the room.  
  
"I told you she was smart, Mary," Peter said as he looked over at the little girl. "Is your friend okay?"  
  
Mary nodded as she approached Mona, her eyes widening slightly when she saw the half done drawing on her friend's lap. She had tried and tried to get through to Mona but it had never quite worked. "Mona, what is that?" Mary said quietly as she peered over her friend's shoulder at the drawing. She could see a figure that looked like a small child with something around its neck but.... She slowly shook her head as she recalled the problem down in the basement. Mona was safe for now and she could figure out the puzzle of the picture later. Dr. Hook and the others were definitely not safe.  
  
"Peter, we have to help them somehow." Mary said, the urgency clear in her voice. "There's been an accident in the basement, Mona." she explained to her friend. "An earthquake trapped Dr. Hook, Dr. Chris, Dr.  
Louis, Dr. Lona and Elmer. Dr. Lona's hurt really bad and if she doesn't get help soon...." Mary stopped not wanting to go on and frighten her friend. "We have to help them, Peter. Dr. Stegman's just going to leave them down there and let them die!"  
  
"I know." From what they had seen down in the basement, the situation was definitely going downhill rapidly. If could just think of the right clues to give Natalie, he was sure that she could figure things out, though. Suddenly he felt something being pressed between his fingers as he looked down slightly to see Mona handing the pencil and pad back to him.  
  
"Peter? What are you drawing now?" Natalie asked as she stood so she could better view what her husband was sketching. Her brow furrowed for a several minutes before the image took shape enough that she was able to recognize it. "Dr. Hook? That's Dr. Hook, right?" She watched for a moment before Peter nodded. "Do you want me to call Dr. Hook?" Would he even be here at this time of the night?  
  
'He lives here. Of course he would be.' Antubis said with a chuckle as he lumbered towards the door. 'He must really love his work is all that I can say. Mary, I'm going to go downstairs and try to help Blondi make his human get up and do his job for a change. Having five doctors trapped in the basement really doesn't seem very secure especially since they're the competent ones. Well, the competent ones and Elmer. I hope no one needs medical attention tonight.'  
  
Suddenly Natalie felt a tug on her arm and she looked down to find that Mona had taken her cell phone out of her purse. The little girl held out the phone and slowly touched the buttons, 9 then 1 and then 1 again.  
  
"911?" Natalie said in a puzzled tone as she reached out and took the phone. They were in a hospital. Why would Mona want her to call.  
Suddenly it hit her. "You're trying to help too, aren't you? Peter, is Dr. Hook in some sort of trouble? Does he need our help?"  
  
Mary reached out, nodding Peter's head for him as Mona scrambled to sit on the side of the bed.  
  
"Okay." Natalie said as she looked from the picture to the phone.  
Dr. Hook had been so good to them, had gone out of his way to try and help her husband. If there was anything that she could do to help him, she would. It was just a matter of figuring out how. "Okay. Is Dr. Hook hurt, Peter?"  
  
Natalie watched. Peter shook his head no but he had hesitated slightly. Did that mean something? "Is Dr. Hook okay but someone with him is hurt?" Okay, that was it. But now what did she do? She bit her lip for a moment as she tried to think. If Dr. Hook was with someone that was injured and yet he still needed their help then.... "Is Dr. Hook still in the hospital, Honey?" She asked Peter. He nodded as his fingers begin to move over the pad of paper, rapidly drawing a doorway, five letters embossed upon it.  
  
"The morgue? Why would Dr. Hook be down there?" Natalie said softly, before something suddenly hit her. "The earthquake. The earthquake has them trapped in the basement, doesn't it? And if someone's hurt, then the morgue would be where they would have to go for supplies.  
Peter, is that right? Is that what happened?" Natalie said, a rush of excitement running over her now that she thought she might have been able to figure out what was going on herself for a change without depending of Mrs. Druse for guidance.  
  
Peter was drawing again, even as Mary nodded his head for him,  
sketching out the scene that the two of them had seen on their return to the basement.  
  
Natalie's eyes widened slightly as she watched the drawing take shape. She could recognize Dr. Hook, of course, and the female doctor working with him, Dr. Draper, she thought. The others in the picture were vaguely familiar as well. Maybe she had seen them in the hallway or something. "If it's bad enough that they're trying to do surgery though...." She said quietly. They definitely needed help and fast.  
"Mona, sweetie, hand me my phone."  
  
"Hello?" She said when the 911 operator answered after several rings. "I'm calling to report an emergency over at Kingdom Hospital, as odd as that might sound to you.' She shook her head slightly as she listened to the reply, a soft laugh slipping out. So it wasn't the first time they had gotten a call from there. She wasn't sure if that was something she should worry about or not. "Okay, we have a problem with an earthquake over here. It did some damage to the hospital basement and there are five doctors trapped down there." Peter was writing on the sketch now, adding names. "Yes, a Dr. Hook, Dr. Chris Draper, Dr. Louis Traff, Dr. Elmer Traff and Dr. Lona Massingale. They definitely need the fire department or something over here to get them out as soon as possible.  
Dr. Massingale looks to be pretty seriously injured."  
  
Natalie nodded as she listened to the operator's response. "No,  
I'm not sure exactly what's wrong but they're down in the morgue area of the basement. It looks fairly serious to me. Something internal, maybe?"  
She looked over at Peter for a clue and was pleased when he nodded. "Yes,  
definitely some sort of internal injuries. Could you please get someone over here quickly?" She hesitated at the operator's next question. "No, I don't think I can give you my name." All that that would do would be to draw attention to them she had a feeling that that was the last thing that she should do at this point. "Just please, get here as fast as you can."  
"Well, I did my best," Natalie whispered as she reached out and took her husband's hand. "I just hope that it was good enough." 


	16. chapter 16

Chris bit her lip in frustation as she tried once more to get the stitches into a position where they would hold. They had managed to resection the spleen but it seemed that every time that they thought they had gotten the damaged artery repaired, it gave way once more and blood started to spurt out like a faucet had been opened.  
  
"Put more pressure there," Hook said softly, motioning for Chris to move her hand a bit as he reached in, carefully feeling for the torn blood vessel once more. He had definately forgotten how complicated a ruptured speen could be, especially given their lack of equipment. "Louis,  
Elmer, how's she holding up?"  
  
Louis reached out, gently feeling Lona's pulse before answering.  
It was weak but... He started to pull his hand away but stopped and gently pressed his fingers against Lona's neck, once more. After a moment, he nodded. There was something, a faint irregularity that hadn't been there a few minutes before. "Hook, I think you better see about finishing what you're doing." Louis said quietly, trying to keep his tone even to avoid frightening Elmer too much.  
  
Hook and Chris looked at each other, a bit nervously. Although Louis hadn't said as much, they knew things were starting to go downhill.  
"One more time and then we go for the removal." Hook whispered to Chris as both of them reached in once more, trying to get the stubborn vessel safely tied off.  
  
"Dad?" Elmer looked up at his father, worry fast becoming panic in his eyes. He recognized that tone his dad had used, the tone that said don't tell Elmer something because he's an idiot and will just make things worse. "Dad, please!"  
  
"Elmer, it's going to be alright." Louis said firmly as he checked Lona's pulse once more. They were going to need another IV hooked up, and Lona definately needed some sort of drug therapy started but... He reached back to the crash cart, snagging another one of the IV setups and picking up Lona's left hand, turning it palm down so he could access the vein there. He could manage the IV without being able to see it but the drugs were going to be a problem. And how could he manage things without telling Elmer about his eyes? He knew that if his son realized that he was almost completely blind it would only make the situation worse. Lona needed their total focus to be centered on her at the moment if they were going to have any hope of saving her life.  
  
"Go get a bag of saline and....' he paused for a moment, debating which drug would be appropriate. There were two different problems, her blood pressure steadily dropping and the cardiac irregularities. The only problem was that the drug to treat one problem could very well make the other problems worse. "Lidocaine. Get that for now." The cardiac problem definately needed to be addressed first. Hopefully if Hook and Chris could get that bleeding stopped, then they could treat the blood pressure problem with fluids.  
  
Elmer didn't want to let go of Lona's hand but he forced himself to,  
hurrying to the bright red cart and digging around inside as his father worked on getting the IV set up. He cringed inwardly as he noticed all of the equipment, seeming like he was seeing it for the first time. Lona was so sick. He knew that she could very well be needing all of the things on the cart soon and that frightened him to no end. He finally found the needed syringe of medicine and hurried back to Lona's side after nagging the saline as well.  
  
Elmer watched anxiously as Louis adjusted the IV line in Lona's hand, getting the saline attached and running. There was something about his father, something that he knew he should be noticing but he couldn't for the life of him see. He shook his head, knowing he didn't have time to worry about whatever it was now. He held out the syringe to his father automatically, his eyes focused on Lona. She was so pale, paler than before and it looked like the blood was pouring out of her even faster. He bit his lip trying to keep from hyperventilating. She was dying. He knew she was dying and there was nothing that he could do, nothing he could do to help her!  
  
"Elmer, you give it to her." Louis said firmly as he pressed the syringe back into his son's hand.  
  
"What?" Elmer looked down at the syringe as if it was the first time that he had ever seen one. What in the world was his father thinking?  
Lona's life was on the line here and certainly shouldn't be entrusted to HIM. What was his dad thinking?  
  
"Elmer, you know how to do it." Louis said firmly. He thought he might be able to guess the right amount to inject but he didn't want to take that risk, not with Lona in this condition. He reached out, snagging another bog of blood and started to replace the almost empty one. "Do it!"  
He ordered firmly.  
  
Elmer looked down at the syringe once more, feeling himself starting to hyperventilate as he looked from it to Lona. He vaguely recalled learning about how to do this, it was true but he didn't trust himself, couldn't trust himself, not with Lona's life on the line. If he made a mistake.... There was no one else who could do it though. Chris and Hook were working on controlling the bleeding and his dad was trying to get more blood running. He had no choice. He hesitated a moment longer,  
before reaching out and taking the IV tubing, carefully starting to inject the medication into one of the ports. He bit his lip, trying to control his breathing a bit. He had to do this perfectly, couldn't risk making a mistake. A tear slowly slipped down his cheek as he withdrew the syringe.  
What if he had done something wrong?  
  
"Please, Lona. you have to be okay," He whispered softly in her ear. If he lost her, he didn't know how he would ever live with himself. 


	17. chapter 17

Chris looked over at Hook as they both worked, trying to get the bleeding under control. Although she didn't say it, her eyes clearly showed how frightened that she was becoming. Lona's blood loss was definitely getting serious. If they didn't stop it soon, they were going to lose her or even if they didn't, then there was the threat of brain damage due to the amount of blood that....  
  
"I've almost got it. Just keep the pressure right there." Hook muttered under his breath. If they were just up in a real operating room with the proper equipment, then fixing this problem would be a breeze but as it was.... 'Just a few more minutes, Lona. You just hold on a few more minutes.' he thought to himself. He didn't dare glance up at Elmer or Louis now, knowing that he couldn't afford to let anything distract him.  
  
"Dad?" Elmer whispered as he looked from watching Chris and Hook work down to Lona once more. She was colder to the touch now and he could see a slight bluish tinge starting to appear around her lips. "Dad! Her lips..."  
  
Louis closed his eyes for a moment. They were losing her, in spite of everything that they were trying they were losing her. He reached down,  
gently checking her pulse again with one hand as he adjusted the settings on the ventilator, trying to increase the amount of oxygen that she was getting. Her pulse was weaker, so low that he could barely feel it at this point.  
  
"Whatever you're doing, you need to get it done and get her closed up now." Louis said in a firm tone as he looked down where he assumed that Chris and Hook were standing before turning his focus onto Lona and keeping her alive somehow. This situation was reminding him entirely too strongly of what had happened the night that Emma died. No, he wasn't going to let that happen to Lona!  
  
Hook didn't even look up as Louis spoke. He didn't need to. He could tell by the older doctor's tone that things were going downhill fast.  
He reached in once more, trying to get the bleeder closed off. He didn't know what he did differently on this attempt but suddenly he found that he had a stitch in that was holding.  
  
"Louis, just keep her going for a few more minutes, okay?" He said as he motioned for Chris to help him quickly. "We've almost got this thing."  
  
A few more minutes. Louis wasn't sure if Lona had even a few more seconds but.... "Get the rest of the blood." He ordered Elmer. They were nearly out and he wasn't sure what would happen once the last few units were gone if Lona still needed transfusions but they could worry about that later. The main focus had to be on keeping her alive long enough for Chris and Hook to stop the bleeding. And shouldn't someone be looking for them by this point anyway? If they could just get her upstairs....  
  
Elmer held out one of the remaining blood bags to his father before going to work replacing the one that was on his side. Only two units of blood left. Would that be enough to even put a dent in the amount of blood Lona had lost or.... He felt tears forming in his eyes and furiously blinked them back. No, he couldn't lose her!  
  
"Get me the epi from the cart." Louis knew wasn't a hundred percent sure what would actually be safe to give to Lona at this point.  
Anything could put an excessive strain on her heart and send her into cardiac arrest but if they didn't do something, then that was pretty much guaranteed to occur. "Hook?"  
  
"We've got it. Just a few more minutes while we close, okay?"  
Hook said as he gently manipulated the spleen a bit, checking for more bleeding before motioning to Chris to help him start the closing. If there was any other bleeding going on in there, it was likely small enough that it would stop on his own.  
  
"Dad?" Elmer reached out to hand him the syringe of medicine but Louis motioned for his son to keep it.  
  
"Run it piggyback into the IV line and then see if we have anymore bags of solution here." Louis ordered as he checked Lona's pulse once more. Had getting that bleeding controlled done anything, caused a change.  
He thought he could detect a small difference but it wasn't enough to inspire any confidence in him yet.  
  
Elmer's eyes widened as he realized that his dad was serious, that he was really expecting him to handle this, to try to.... He felt himself hyperventilating slightly at the thought. Lona's life was on the line here and he really didn't feel confident enough in his skills to do anything beyond holding her hand. He started to speak but a look from his father silenced him and set him to working on getting the drug into Lona in the ordered method. He cringed as he started to do it, sure that he was doing something wrong, that he was going to hurt her. 'Well, what do you expect from a loser like you? She's going to die and it will be your fault.' the voice in his head taunted him. Why was he so stupid, so frightened? His brother would never act like this!  
  
"Elmer you're doing fine. This is going to be okay." Louis said quietly as he looked over his son. Elmer's fear was almost so strong that it could be felt in the air. Louis shook his head slightly. What in the world had he done wrong to make his son doubt himself to such an extent?  
He was sure that it was his fault.  
  
"She's going to complain that this is going to scar, you know,"  
Chris whispered to Hook, trying to do something, anything to ease the tension as they worked at closing the incision layer by layer.  
  
Hook laughed slightly at Chris's remark, a light hearted feeling washing over him now that they had actually managed to get the bleeding stopped, to hopefully have saved Lona. Now if someone would just get themselves down here to dig them out.... "How's she doing?" Hook asked Louis.  
  
"We'll fix it." Time enough to worry about the lack of more blood to transfuse Lona with later. And suddenly an idea occurred to Louis as he looked over at his son. Okay, it probably would break every rule the hospital and the blood bank had for transfusions but if they had to, there was always trying a direct transfusion. They weren't going to lose Lona now. He wouldn't let that happen, wouldn't let his son go through that pain. He reached out and gently patted Elmer with one hand. "She's going to be okay. I promise you that she's going to be okay." 


	18. chapter 18

"Louis, how's she holding up?" Hook asked quietly as Chris finished securing the gauze pads over the now closed incision and tucking a blanket followed by several sheets around Lona. From the look of her almost ghostly pale skin, he didn't think he needed to hear what Louis had to say to know the answer. Even with the bleeding stopped, Lona was obviously still in critical condition.  
  
Louis shook his head slightly, not wanting to alarm his son anymore than Elmer was already alarmed. If they couldn't get Lona to some help,  
more help than they could provide down here soon, though.... He reached out once more and gently felt her pulse. Still much too weak and slow,  
signs that she had slipped dangerously close to end stage shock.  
  
"Elmer, get another of those bags of saline hooked up and ready to go." Louis reached up and felt the blood bags, frowning as he did so. One of the bags was almost empty and the other would be soon as well. The saline solution would help as a temporary measure but Lona needed more blood and she needed it soon. "Get another dose of epi ready as well." he ordered. "Give it another minute or two and then run it like you did before."  
  
Louis motioned for Hook to follow him a slight distance away from the table. The younger doctor reached out a hand as they moved away,  
guiding Louis slightly in a way that Elmer couldn't see. If Lona was as bad as she looked, Louis was definitely right. His son didn't need anymore worries at the moment.  
  
"Hook, what are the chances that there's another way out of here?"  
Louis asked quietly. He wouldn't say out loud that Lona needed more attention than they could give her down there and quickly but the urgency was apparent in her voice.  
  
"No idea." Hook shook his head as he talked. "The way that we came down is definitely blocked and as for the other end, who knows. I'm not sure it would be a good idea to try moving Lona at this point anyway."  
And although Hook wouldn't say it, Louis's condition was definitely a concern as well. Any injury that was bad enough to mess up the vision as badly as Louis's appeared to be was definitely a potentially serious one.  
The older doctor didn't need to be scrambling around trying to escape from a partially collapsed basement. He needed to stay as still and quiet as he could until they could get him some help as well.  
  
"I'll be fine, Hook." Louis might not be able to see but he could read the sudden silence almost as well as he could a face. "Lona,  
though.... She needs more blood and soon. That saline isn't going to help for long."  
  
"I know." Hook didn't dare mention the fear he and Chris both had about the lack of forthcoming help to free them from the basement. Stegman was evil and a moron, of course, but surely he wasn't insane enough to do something like that. He started to run over the basement layout in his mind, thinking of possible catches of supplies that might prove helpful in the current situation as well as possible ways out. nothing came to him,  
though, at least nothing that was enough of a good shot to risk moving Lona for it. "Louis, how long can she last if we can't get more blood?"  
  
"I don't know." Louis closed his eyes as he thought of it. If Lona didn't make it.... A tear slipped down his cheek against his will.  
No, she had to make it. There was no way that he was letting his son go through the pain that losing her would entail, not after what he had gone through himself with Emma's death.  
  
After a moment, he pulled himself together. He was a doctor and he didn't have time for this. Later, later when he was alone he could fall apart but now Lona was depending on him. "There's something that we can do if we don't get out of here soon." he said slowly. He had a feeling that Hook wouldn't have issues with this idea but he couldn't be sure. If definitely violated all of the rules and regulations surrounding blood transfusions that he could think of. "A direct transfusion. If we can't find a way out or someone doesn't find a way in to us, we might need to risk a direct transfusion."  
  
"Do you know how to do that if it comes down to it?" Hook asked quietly. Okay, he knew it was against a ton of rules but he wasn't going to let the rules stand in the way of saving Lona's life. "And what about her blood type?"  
  
"AB positive. We can give her anything if we have to." Louis said as they headed back to Lona's side once more, the part of the talk that he had been afraid would alarm Elmer over. "I know how to do it."  
  
Hook nodded as Louis moved to Lona's side, reaching out and gently patting his son's shoulder to try to reassure him. After a moment, he motioned for Chris to come over.  
  
"Keep an eye on them and Lona for me, okay?" he told her quietly.  
It had definitely been way too long, well over two hours now. If Stegman was behind this somehow then he swore that he would make him pay. This went way beyond malpractice and stealing research. Lona could die if something wasn't done soon.  
  
"Where are you going?" Chris asked, worry starting to form in her eyes as she looked from Hook to Lona.  
  
"To try to find a way to get us out of here or at least a way to contact them upstairs and let them know what's going on. Just watch them for me, okay?" Hook said as he leaned down and kissed Chris's forehead gently. "I'll be back as soon as I can." 


	19. chapter 19

"Dad?" Elmer said quietly as he looked over at his father. Okay,  
their relationship could definately be messed up at times but he knew how devoted his dad was to medicine. If there was anything that could be done to save Lona's life, he was sure that his father would try it. As he looked down at her, though laying there so pale and still, that thought didn't do a whole lot to comfort him. "Dad?" He wanted to know the answer to this, wanted to hear something that would comfort him and at the same time he was afraid to know.  
  
Louis didn't reply for a moment, reaching out and gently checking Lona's pulse. Still weak but it looked like the second dose of epi had got her to react a bit better. If they could just get out of here soon, her chances might be pretty good.  
  
"Dad?" Louis heard Elmer calling his name once more, his son's voice full of fright. He shook his head slightly as he turned in what he hoped was Elmer's direction. Did Lona have any idea that Elmer's feelings for her might be true love and not the crush that they had all assumed that it was.  
  
"She's holding up pretty well." He said slowly, not wanting to give Elmer false hope but at the same time wanting to let him have something to hold onto. "Hook went to go and see about a way to get us out of here."  
  
"Why isn't anyone looking for us?" Elmer asked quietly as he reached out and took Lona's hand, careful not to disturb the IV lines. He was sort of afraid that he might know the answer, though. Stegman.  
Everyone knew how much he hated Hook. Elmer wouldn't be surprised if he knew they were stuck down here and was planning on leaving them, hoping they would all die. He swore if he found out that Stegman had done that to him, he would rip him apart with his bare hands. Lona had almost died, he knew from what his dad wasn't saying could still die pretty easily. If Stegman had endangered her like that...  
  
"We're going to get out of here. I promise you." Louis patted his son's shoulder once more before reaching up and feeling the bags of blood.  
"Okay, why don't you see about getting this one capped off? Leave the port in for now. We'll probably need it later."  
  
Elmer nodded, a bit surprised that his dad seemed to be trusting him to do a lot. He never had before. Were things maybe improving a bit between them? Elmer definately hoped so. All he had ever wanted was his father's love and respect. "Should we go ahead and take her off of the machine?" he asked quietly as he worked on getting the IV line unhooked and the port in Lona's arm capped.  
  
"Let's give her a bit longer." He knew that Lona could breathe on her own but considering how weak she was, allowing the machine to handle that for her for a bit longer might give her a chance to regain a tiny bit of strength. "Did she ever regain consciousness while you were down in the sleep lab?"  
  
Elmer shook his head, reaching out and stroking Lona's forehead gently before speaking. "I think she might have moaned once but other than that, nothing, not even when I was having to get that tube in to fix her lung. Dad...." He was afraid to ask his father what it might mean that she hadn't shown any sort of response at all, was afraid to hear his own fears about what it might mean confirmed.  
  
"Probably just as well that she didn't wake up. Spared her some pain." Louis said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone although the fact that Lona hadn't responded was definately worrisome. If he could just see then he knew he could do a better job at assessing the situation. He reached out, gently touching Lona's hair, feeling as suripticiously as he could for any signs of blood.  
  
"It didn't even scratch her face, you know." Elmer started to ramble a bit not noticing what his father was doing. "She'll be glad of that when she wakes up." He deliberately forced himself to say when, not if. Lona had to wake up, had to be okay.  
  
Louis signed softly as he heard this. Okay, he knew that the lack of damage to Lona's face wasn't a guarentee that there wasn't still a head injury but it definately lessened the chances. Anything hitting her head would have likely at least given her some facial scratches.  
  
"How's she doing?" Chris said quietly so that only Louis could hear her as she approached the table. She really didn't like how pale Lona was and how still. Okay, considering the fact that she had just had emergency surgery in a morgue, it was probably a good thing that she wasn't conscious but still, shouldn't she be showing some sort of sign of awareness? Shouldn't she have reacted in some way when they were moving her down here, come to think of it?  
  
"Check her eyes for me," Louis said softly. Okay, he didn't think there was a head injury from how his son had described things and the lack of blood in her hair but he wanted to be absolutely sure.  
  
Chris stared at Louis in puzzlement for a moment, wondering why he hadn't done that himself before moving to Lona's side and pulling out a penlight. "Lona?" she called her friend's name as she gently opened each eyelid, flashing the light as she did so.  
  
"Is she okay?" Elmer asked anxiously as he watched Chris.  
Checking her eyes like that, did that mean that they thought that Lona had hurt her head somehow and that he was too dumb to realize it or....  
  
"We're just being cautious." Louis responded. He could tell from his son's tone at the end of his question that he was starting to slip back into his usual fears that everyone thought he was an idiot. Honestly, what in the world had he done so wrong to make Elmer feel like that? "Chris?"  
  
"Her eyes look fine as far as I can tell. They're equal and reactive. Probably just the bloodloss and shock knocked her out pretty good." Chris reached down as she spoke, patting Lona's cold hand. She almost felt like ice. And of course the morgue wasn't likely to have any blankets just laying around that they could get over her either. Not like many people down here would have issues with the cold.  
  
Just then they heard a noise in the hallway and turned, Louis a bit slower than the others as Hook came in, Blankets and other supplies in his arms.  
  
"Did you find a way out?" Louis asked quietly as Hook came over to join them, handing the blankets to Chris before starting to stack the supplies on a nearby counter.  
  
"Nothing as far as I could see. Everything is totally blocked."  
Hook looked over at Lona with more than a bit of concern as he spoke. "How long can she hold out before she needs more blood?" Even if people were already looking for them, with how bad the damage was, he knew it could take hours for someone to get through.  
  
"An hour or so, maybe. She needs that blood before things start going downhill again." Louis tried to hide his concern as he spoke. If they didn't get out of here soon, they could definately end up losing her. 


	20. chapter 20

Antubis frowned as he watched Bobby and Otto playing cards.  
Honestly, how thick could those two be? Otto was being paid to make sure that this hospital was secure and here he hadn't even noticed that the basement cameras were out and had been out for hours now. And as for Bobby, shouldn't he have gone to check on his mother or something long before now and seen that Stegman had caught her?  
  
'See what I have to put up with? And we have to walk home too so my paws are rubbed raw.' Blondi grumbled as he slipped around the two humans, reaching up and batting at the monitor screens, sending them flicking randomly from channel to channel. Maybe that would clue Otto in.  
  
"Blondi, down boy!" Otto called when he saw what the dog was doing,  
reaching out and pushing him firmly away from the monitors. "You know you're not supposed to mess with those!"  
  
"Hey, wait a minute, what's that?" Bobby said with a sudden grin as he saw what was suddenly filling the screen, shapely Nurse Nancy from proctology undressing. "When did you get this camera?"  
  
"A month ago and don't tell anyone!" Otto said in a firm tone. He reached out to change the channel but stopped when he saw Nurse Nancy removing her top. Okay, maybe they could watch for just a second.  
'We're never going to get their attention now.' Blondi said with a shake of his head as he went over and joined his friend. 'Not while they have Nurse Nancy to occupy them.'  
  
'I don't know why they find her so fascinating in the first place'  
Antubis shook his head as he spoke, glaring at the pair by the monitor before motioning with his head for Blondi to follow him down the hall.  
They had to find help soon for the trapped doctors if Lona was going to have any chance at all of surviving.  
  
'I think it's her...' suddenly Blondi stopped speaking as they saw Carrie coming down the hallway. The two animals sat back on their haunches, surveying her thoughtfully.  
  
"No, she faints at the drop of a hat.' Blondi said after a moment.  
'So? We can wake her up after. We just need someone to see the damage and call for help. Go get her. She's marginally better than those two.' Carrie definitely wasn't who Antubis would have picked but at this point, he couldn't afford to be choosy. He knew that Mary was trying to get help from Mrs. Rickman but better for both of them to be working on getting assistance if possible. With Lona's condition, she could use all of the help that she could get.  
  
"Blondi?" Carrie said, a bit of curiosity in her voice as the dog suddenly came down the hall towards her, barking urgently. "Blondi, be quiet!" Carrie hurried forward motioning for the dog to hush. If Stegman heard him barking like that he would probably use it as an excuse to call the pound and have Blondi lagged away. What in the world Dr. James had been thinking leaving him in charge for the night she would never know.  
You would have thought he would have let Dr. Hook take care of things.  
  
'This way!' Blondi barked urgently once more before heading for the stairwell door that Antubis had nudged open.  
  
"Blondi?" Carried called as she stared at the door in puzzlement for a moment before heading after the dog. How had that opened? She could have sworn that the door had been closed a moment ago. She stepped through the door with a bit of hesitation. What was going on here? Blondi definitely wasn't acting right and....  
  
Just then she heard the dog bark once more from somewhere below her on the steps. "Blondi?" She called again as she headed down. Her fear was building rapidly and screaming at her to turn back. This was how every stupid girl got killed in horror movies, after all. At the same time,  
something was pushing her forward, though.  
  
'That's it. Just a little bit more,' Antubis muttered as he nudged Carrie a bit more down the steps. Definitely not his first choice for help at all. Of course, his first choices for help were currently trapped in the basement so.... Why didn't this hospital get competent second choices?  
  
"Blondi, what's going on?" Carrie couldn't see the dog as she reached the bottom of the steps and she almost turned around and fled.  
This was definitely getting too weird and spooky for her. Where could Blondi have vanished too so quickly?  
  
'Should have used the door,' Antubis thought to himself as she shook his furry head at his friend's mistake before nudging Carrie once more.  
  
Carrie hesitated, definitely not wanting to be here at this point and at the same time having a feeling that she needed to keep going, that there was something that she needed to do. After another moment's hesitation, she reached out and cautiously turned the doorknob, jumping through quickly so if anything scary was waiting for her on the other side,  
she might catch it off guard.  
  
"BLONDI!!" Carrie screamed and grabbed at her chest as the dog barked. She slumped back against the wall, staring at him in shock. How could Blondi have possibly gotten through that door, especially without her seeing it moving?  
  
After several minutes, she was calm enough to speak once more.  
"Blondi, you scared about ten years off of me. Come on! We're going back upstairs!" she said in what she was a firm tone,  
  
The dog rolled his eyes at Carrie trying to boss him around,  
trotting down the hallway a bit more and barking at her.  
  
"Blondi, get back here now!" Carrie called as she hurried after him, almost having to run to keep up as the dog started to move faster.  
"Blondi!"  
  
Suddenly something appeared in front of her, a giant mass of what looked like rock or.... "Oh, my...." Carrie reached out, tentively touching the debris blocking any further movement down the hallway. A dizzy feeling swept over her and she had to cling to the debris rather firmly to stay on her feet as she suddenly realized what had happened.  
Everyone had felt the latest earthquake, of course, but it hadn't been extremely bad on the upper floors. Obviously, it was a different story down here, though. The quake must have brought part of the ceiling down and.  
Carrie's eyes grew wide as she suddenly recalled something. Lona had been running tests on Elmer in the sleep lab, trying to find the cause of his seizures. Carrie had even teased her about it, threatening to tell Elmer how worried Lona was over him, knowing that it would encourage his pursuit of her. If they had been down there when the quake hit and she was afraid that they were.... "Lona?" She called hesitantly and then louder.  
"Lona?!"  
  
There was no reply but who knew how much of the ceiling had caved in? It was possible that if the collapse was serious enough that no one could hear her through the rubble. She called once more anyway though,  
more for herself. If she was calling for her friends, then that gave her hope they hadn't been... No, don't think of that. She wouldn't let herself think of that. The sleep lab was further down the hall, away from the collapsed area. Lona and Elmer were probably just fine. "Hey, if anyone can here me, I'm going to get help, okay?"  
  
"Come on, Blondi," Carrie called as she motioned for the dog to follow her as she headed back to the stairwell. She just hoped that she could get someone down there in time. 


	21. chapter 21

Bobby and Otto were almost drooling as they watched the monitor intently. "Just turn around," Otto said softly, extremely glad that his vision had been restored if for not other reason than to fully appreciate this moment.  
  
Just then there was the sound of sirens outside. While they were used to this noise, they definitely weren't used to the sight of a trio of fire trucks pulling up right outside of the hospital entrance.  
  
"Are we having a fire drill and no one thought to tell us?" Bobby asked curiously as the pair stood and headed for the door, missing completely Nurse Nancy turning to face the camera as she pulled her clean top on.  
  
"I have no idea." Otto muttered as they headed for the door to find out what in the world was going on. He just hoped that the hospital wasn't on fire and someone forgot to tell them about that. As he thought of a possible fire, he glanced around nervously trying to see where in the world Blondi had gotten himself to. He couldn't just leave his dog there if the building was possibly burning down!  
  
"Hey, what's going on?" Bobby called as the firemen came through the door. He was glad that whatever was going on had picked a night that Dr. James wasn't here to happen, that was for sure. He was pretty sure that having three trucks full of firemen pouring into the building wouldn't look very good.  
  
"We got a call that there was a cave-in down in the basement and some of the doctors were trapped." the fireman in the lead said as he approached Bobby and Otto. He shook his head slightly as he thought about the current situation. He had been one of the firemen called in to rescue the trapped employees during the last little earthquake and cave-in. You would think that they would have done something to try to make the building more secure after the first time but apparently they hadn't bothered. When they got back to the fire hall, he was definitely going to have a long talk with his men, make sure they knew never to bring him to this place if he was in need of medical attention.  
  
"What?" Otto said as he looked at Bobby in confusion. They had both felt a tremor earlier, of course, but they didn't think that it had been strong enough to do any damage. It had barely rattled things at his station. How could it have triggered a cave-in?  
  
"We don't know anything about a cave-in. Someone called and said there was one?" Bobby asked curiously as Otto headed back to his monitors to check the basement cameras.  
  
"Yes, a woman called from the hospital about twenty minutes ago to report an earthquake and a cave-in in your basement." The fireman pulled out a notebook that he consulted before continuing to speak. "She said that there were five doctors trapped down there: a Dr. Hook, a Dr. Chris Draper, a Dr. Louis Traff, a Dr. Elmer Traff and a Dr. Lona Massingale."  
That last name sounded a bit familiar to him and he thought for a moment before realizing that she had been one of the doctors caught in the last quakes. "Would have thought that would have cured her of any urges to visit the basement, wouldn't you?" he muttered under his breath.  
  
"Who? Lona? She works down in the sleep lab." Bobby said. Okay,  
this was a bit odd. He didn't see how there could have been a cave-in without their knowing about it but as he thought back, it had been at least three hours or longer since he could recall seeing any of the doctors the fireman had mentioned as being trapped by the earthquake. "Hey, Otto, have you see Chris or Hook anywhere?" He figured Lona and Elmer were down in the lab for the night and wouldn't be seen until morning under normal circumstances.  
  
"No." Otto said as he looked up from checking the monitors. This wasn't good. "All of the basement cameras are out." Maybe the latest quake had been worse down there? Why hadn't someone noticed a cave-in,  
though?  
  
"What's going on here?" Dr. Stegman said as he stepped out of the elevator followed by Brenda. He frowned when he saw the crowd but quickly relaxed when he realized they were firemen, not policemen.  
  
"We received a report that there had been a cave-in down in your basement due to the last earthquake and there were five doctors trapped."  
the lead firefighter said is he looked at Stegman critically. If this was the sort of doctors that the hospital had to offer, he was definitely never coming here.  
  
Stegman frowned as he heard this. Now how in the world had they found out about the quake and the cave-in? Everyone was such idiots here that he was sure they hadn't thought to become curious about where their missing co-workers A moment later he had regained his composure, though.  
These were just a batch of idiot firemen, just like the morons that he was forced to work with. He could handle them easily.  
  
"I'm afraid, gentlemen, that you've been the victims of a bit of a prank, here, Stegman said, laughing slightly as he spoke to try to downplay the situation. "I'm afraid that some of the younger doctors are practical jokesters and well.... You can see for yourself that the hospital is fine,  
right? No sign of damage or anything. I'm very sorry that you had to come out here for nothing. You can be sure that if I find whoever played this joke, though, they will be properly punished for it. Did I introduce myself? I'm Dr. Stegman and...."  
  
"And I'm the fire chief and the report we received sounded pretty credible to me." the fireman said as he looked at Stegman like he was a bug now. Stegman, he had heard that name. He thought that was the doctor his wife had mentioned who had injured a girl at their daughter's school.  
What was her name now? It was kind of odd, he remembered.  
  
"And who gave you this report?" A bit of annoyance was slipping into Stegman's voice now. Why didn't these people take the hint and go away? He had better things to do with his time like figuring out where that pest Mona had vanished to.  
  
"She didn't want to give a name." And seeing Stegman, he could probably guess why.  
  
"There, the obvious sign of a practical jokester." Stegman said with another laugh. "If it had been a serious report, wouldn't they have given their name? As I said, I'm very sorry that you were drug out here unnecessarily but this is a busy hospital and I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."  
  
"Wait! Don't go!" Carrie called as she came rushing down the hall with Blondi following right behind her. She stopped in front of the fire chief, only pausing for a moment to catch her breath before speaking. "Are you here about the cave-in?"  
  
"Yes, we received a report that five doctors had been trapped, with injuries." He said as he pulled out his pad once more.  
  
"And I was just telling you that it was all a joke and that you really need to..." Stegman started to speak but Carrie interrupted.  
  
"It's not a joke. I was just down in the basement and the ceiling's caved in. It looks worse than what happened the last time too."  
Suddenly something the fire chief said sunk in. "Injuries? Did you say injuries? Who's hurt?"  
  
"A Dr. Lona Massingale according to the woman who placed the call.  
She said she believed there were internal injuries."  
  
"What's going on here?" Dr. Havens called as he came down the hallway, drawn by the commotion, with Dr. Gupta right behind him.  
  
"There's been another cave-in." Carrie said as she hurried over to the older doctor. "Lona's hurt." Internal injuries. That was definitely bad. A wave of dizziness washed over Carrie as she thought about it. If Lona had been hurt internally for all this time, was she even still alive?  
  
"Now, really, there's no need to get excited." Stegman said in what he hoped was a soothing tone and he frantically sought a way to take control of the situation. "Nurse Van Trier, you know you...."  
  
"Check yourself if you don't believe me," Carrie said with an angry look at Stegman before motioning for the firemen to follow her.  
"This way. Please hurry. It looks really bad."  
  
Before Stegman could say anything else and imply Carrie was crazy,  
Dr. Gupta broke in. "Carrie's not an idiot. If she says there was a cave-in, I believe her."  
  
"I do too." Henry said as he waved Otto over, glaring at Stegman as he did so. Something wasn't right here. Stegman wasn't like Dr. James and obsessed with the hospital's reputation. Why was he trying to deny so hard the possibility of a cave-in then? "Otto, call Dr. James and get him back here as soon as possible. I'm going down to the basement to see if I can help." If things were as bad as Carrie had said, they would likely need all of the help they could get. He started after the nurse with Dr.  
Gupta right behind him.  
  
"I'm going to find my mother and then I'm going to see if I can help too." Bobby said with a suspicious look at Stegman as he headed for the elevators. Usually his mom would have called him at least once to ask for help in her quest to contact the spirits but she had been unusually quiet tonight. He hadn't thought much about it at the time but now it definitely seemed suspicious. If Stegman had done something to his mother...  
  
Stegman stood still for a moment before heading after the group to try to work out some sort of damage control. "How was I to know there had really been a cave-in?" he called. "We barely felt the quake up here, you know. So, who did you say was injured now?" Maybe he would get lucky and Hook would die before they could dig them out. 


	22. chapter 22

"It's so cold in here," Elmer said softly as he reached under the blankets covering Lona, gently taking her hand and covering it with his.  
Even under the warm blankets, she still felt cold, much too cold. "Did Dr.  
James cut building maintance or something again? She's freezing." He wished he could gather Lona into his arms. He was sure if he could hold her snuggled against him for just a little while that he could get her nice and toasty warm once more. He didn't dare risk moving her, though, not with that injured lung and the fresh incision.  
  
"It is cold." Chris said softly as she moved over to join Hook.  
She shivered a little and he automatically shrugged off his lab coat and draped it around her shoulders. "Hook, tell me that Stegman isn't insane enough to try to cut the heat down here to make sure that we die." This last part she spoke in a soft tone so that Elmer wouldn't overhear her.  
  
"Who knows what Steg's capable of." Hook said just as quietly as he drew Chris into his arms to keep her warm. When he got out of here,  
Steg was going to pay for this one, he would make sure of it.  
  
"How's she doing?" Louis asked as he rejoined Elmer, reaching out and patting his son's shoulder to try to comfort him as he did so. He might not be able to see but you didn't exactly need vision to read Elmer at the moment.  
  
"She's breathing okay, but her pulse is really slow," Elmer said quietly as he pressed his fingers against Lona's neck for a moment. They had the respirator out now but he thought with a shudder that they might need to put her back on it soon if they couldn't get out of here. "Dad..."  
  
"We're not going to lose her." Louis said firmly as he reached out and felt Lona's pulse himself. She was definitely starting to slip once more. They had to get more blood into her somehow. Lona was fighting to stay with them but without more blood to get oxygen around her body, there was just no way she could win.  
  
"Hook," Louis waved, motioning for the other two doctors to come over and join them.  
  
"She's worse?" Hook asked as he came over with Chris right at his side. He knew that the benefit from the saline solution wouldn't last long but he had hoped it might keep Lona going until help could get to them.  
"She needs blood." Louis said with a slow nod.  
  
As his father and Hook talked and looked at each other with serious expressions, Elmer felt himself starting to hyperventilate slightly. He knew that they have exhausted the morgue's blood supply and unless he was very mistaken, there wasn't another area down in the basement that would have more blood. If Lona needed blood and couldn't get it.... No, he couldn't lose her! He felt himself shooting a suddenly resentful look at Chris and Hook, all snuggled together. Why were they able to be happy and snuggle together when Lona was lying there slowly dying and he couldn't even risk holding her? It wasn't fair! He loved her just as much as Hook loved Chris! Why did he have to lose her and Hook got to keep....  
  
"Calm down, Elmer." Louis said firmly. He could hear his son's breathing getting more rapid and knew he was getting upset about something,  
most likely Lona's condition. "I said we aren't going to lose her and I mean it. Hook's going to get another gurney. I need you to lay down,  
okay?"  
  
Elmer stared at his father in shock. Here Lona was maybe dying and his dad was wanting him to lay down and rest? What was he thinking? He wasn't going to lay down when Lona needed him. "No, I...."  
  
"Elmer, she needs blood and we're going to get it for her, okay?"  
Louis smiled slightly as he reached out and patted his son's shoulder once more. "Is it okay with you if we borrow a bit of yours now?"  
  
What?" Okay, Elmer hand seen transfusions done like that, direct from one person to another on television before but he didn't think it could actually work in real life! "Can you even do that?" He asked with a frown. If they could, Lona was more than welcome to his blood, all of it that she might need.  
  
Louis nodded and Elmer let out a slight sigh of relief. "Take it.  
Take whatever she needs." He looked over at Lona, barely able to keep from sobbing at the fight of her laying there so pale and still. "You're sure that it will help her?" He felt a sudden rush of fear as he thought about it. How could his father be so sure that his blood would work for Lona?  
  
"I made the mistake of walking past Dr. James's office when he was looking for someone to run the blood drive a couple of years ago. Trust me, this will work." Louis said as he patted his son's shoulder once more,  
trying to reassure him. "No, just lay down on the gurney and let us get this set up, okay?"  
  
Elmer nodded although he was still frightened, not for himself of course but for Lona. "Dad, please, just promise that you'll take care of her, okay? Take whatever you have to, whatever blood she needs. Just don't let anything happen to her."  
  
"We're going to fix this, I promise." Louis said with a nod as Elmer climbed onto the gurney and laid down. Okay, he knew that he probably shouldn't promise Elmer something that he couldn't guarantee but.... No,  
they weren't going to lose Lona, not now, not if there was anything at all that he could do to prevent it. "We're going to fix this." 


	23. chapter 23

"Mama?" Bobby called as he pushed the door to his mother's hospital room open. Ever since the scene with Steg downstairs, when he had argued so hard that there hadn't been any sort of cave-in.... That was extremely suspicious as far as Bobby was concerned and now he was definitely worried about his mother. If Stegman had done anything to her he would never forgive himself. He should have checked on her, made sure that she was okay instead of hanging around downstairs playing games with Otto. "Mama?"  
  
"Bobby, what is going on?" Sally demanded as she tugged anxiously on the restraints holding her to the bed. She had been trying to free herself ever since that awful man had come in and ordered her fastened down but she hadn't succeeded so far.  
  
"Mama, what happened?" Bobby exclaimed as he rushed over to his mother as soon as he saw the restraints and started to unfasten her hands.  
Oh, this was exactly what he had been afraid of! "Did Stegman do this?"  
  
Sally nodded, worry really hitting her at the sight of the expression on Bobby's face. By nature, her son was one of the most easygoing people she knew and didn't let himself get worked up about anything, including,  
she had to admit, actually doing the work that he was paid to do. He definitely seemed upset now though. "Bobby, what is going on? I've been trying to free myself for hours now. What's happening?"  
  
"There's been another earthquake, Mama." Bobby said as he helped his mother out of bed. No way was he going to leave her here unprotected, not with Stegman on the loose. Why couldn't the ceiling have fallen in on him instead of Hook and the others? "Part of the ceiling caved in down in the basement. Dr. Hook and some of the other doctors are trapped."  
  
"Oh, my heavens." Sally said in a soft whisper as she followed Bobby towards the elevator, pulling her robe on as she walked. "Are they alright? Is that nice friend of Dr. Hook's, Dr. Draper, down there too?"  
Both of them had really touched her with their willingness to go out of their way to help her even with the very thin evidence that she had for Mary's existence at the beginning. If anything had happened to them....  
  
"Yes, Chris, Hook, both of the Traffs and Lona. The person who called said that Lona got hurt." Bobby said with a shake of his head. If Lona was injured, he didn't even want to imagine the state that Elmer would be in. "I want you to stay right with me, Mama. I don't trust Stegman and he's probably still down there trying to cover for himself."  
  
"Cover for himself?" That sounded a bit odd to say the least.  
"Bobby, what is going on here?" It sounded like something had happened besides just an earthquake and a cave-in.  
  
"He tried to say that there hadn't been a cave-in, wasn't going to let the firemen go downstairs and check things out. If Carrie hadn't gone down to the basement and seen it...." And actually managed to stay conscious long enough to report it, he thought but didn't say.  
  
"He knew?" Sally whispered. "You think he knew and was going to leave them trapped?"  
  
"He hates Hook. Just stay close to me, Mama." Bobby said as the elevator opened on the basement level and he stepped out followed by Sally.  
He had made a mistake before and had left his mother unprotected from Stegman. He wasn't going to do that again, not even if it ended up costing him his job. "Stegman hates you to, you know. Just stay right with me and don't go wondering off looking for that little girl right now, okay?"  
  
Sally nodded as they hurried down the hallway. As soon as she saw the pile of debris blocking any further passage down the hallway, her eyes widened in shock. This wasn't good, definitely wasn't good.  
  
"Otto, what are the firemen saying?" Bobby asked anxiously as his friend came over to join them.  
  
"It will take hours to clear it." Otto said with a shake of his head.  
He couldn't bring himself to say what else he was thinking. He didn't know much about medicine but working in a hospital, you definitely picked up some things. If Lona was hurt as badly as whoever had reported the cave-in had said, if anyone else was injured, the might not have that much time left.  
  
"Well, we can't just stand here and wait." Sally said quietly after another look at the debris. "Let's see what we can do to help them." As she headed for the nearest fireman with Bobby and Otto right behind her,  
her thoughts turned to little Mary. She hoped that child could look after all of those who were in danger now. 


	24. chapter 24

"Dad?" Elmer called anxiously for his father as he looked over at Lona. There was a tubing setup connecting them together, his blood running into her arm somehow but was it helping her? He wanted to believe desperately that it would but at the same time, he was so afraid. What if his blood was as useless as he was?  
  
"It's okay." Louis said quietly as he gently patted Elmer's shoulder. If he could just see, he knew he would be of more help medically but at the same time he knew that talking to Elmer and trying to keep him from panic might help more than anything medical that he could try.  
  
"Is it working?" Elmer looked from Lona up into his father's eyes,  
praying for some sort of comfort, for reassurance that Lona would be fine.  
  
"Her pulse is up a little." Hook called from Lona's other side where he was monitoring the transfusion and her vitals. Okay, the idea of using a direct transfusion definitely did seem to be working. Lona was starting to respond slightly to their efforts now. The only problem was that he wasn't sure if it would be enough to pull her through.  
  
"It isn't enough, is it?" Elmer could barely keep from crying as he spoke. He could tell from the way everyone kept looking at Lona and the things that they weren't saying that she wasn't out of danger despite the new transfusion, that he could still lose her. "How much more blood does she need? Take whatever you have to! I don't care! Just help her."  
Although he had fought hard against it, he felt a tear slipping down his cheek. "Please, just help her."  
  
Louis didn't speak for a moment as his eyes moved from Lona to Elmer, trying to picture the situation in his head although he couldn't physically see it. They had almost taken the normal amount that was taken during a blood donation. Anymore blood loss could be detrimental to his son's wellbeing but then wasn't Elmer's wellbeing connected to Lona's? If something happened to her and Elmer felt like he could have prevented it somehow, Louis knew that Elmer would be destroyed. And his son was young and in good health. Although donating excess blood would weaken him, the odds that it would do any sort of lasting harm were extremely small. And a bit more blood might with any luck be what Lona needed to get the situation turned around.  
  
"Let me talk to him." Louis said softly as he heard Hook approaching to see about undoing the transfusion hookup.  
"Elmer?" Louis bent over his son, whispered into his ear so that Hook and Chris wouldn't here. "You know that if you give Lona much more blood it won't be good for you, right?" he asked quietly. "Are you willing to risk that?  
  
"I can't do anything else for her." Elmer said softly as he looked over at Lona once more. She needed Hook, Chris and his dad to tend her injuries and see about getting them out of here. He was basically just and extra body trying not to get in the way. If his blood could help Lona,  
though.... "Please, dad, I know what giving more blood to her will do but...." He could barely keep from sobbing as he thought about it. "Dad,  
please, just help her. I can't lose her now. I'll be fine. Just please,  
please help her!"  
  
"Okay." Louis said as he patted Elmer once more. He couldn't believe that he was actually agreeing for Elmer to take any sort of risk with his health and there was a slim chance his life but he understood his son's motivations all too well. And wasn't a slight risk to save a life automatically worth it?  
  
"Hook?" he called as he stood up once more.  
  
"We need to get that out now." Hook said as he came over, looking a bit concerned as his eyes fell on the tubing. At this point, Elmer had given definitely more than the recommended amount of blood for donations and he wanted to end things before the younger doctor could suffer any sort of harm.  
  
"We're going to let it run a little longer, see if it makes any sort of difference," Louis said firmly and as he sensed that Hook was about to argue with him, he continued. "He knows the risks and he's willing to take them." And Elmer really did love Lona, he was definitely realizing. Wasn't any risk worth it if it might save the person that you loved? If he could have saved Emma....  
  
Hook frowned, concern apparent on his face at this. Okay, he didn't want anything to happen to Lona but they didn't need two sick people on their hands and if they took too much blood, Elmer would definitely be out of it. "Elmer?"  
  
"Please, just do it, okay? I know what could happen and I don't care. Just help her." Elmer said once more, forcing his tone to be firm this time as he spoke, something that Hook couldn't argue with.  
  
"Louis, are you okay with this?" Hook asked softly as he led Louis away from Lona and Elmer for a moment.  
  
"It's what he wants." Louis said slowly, pausing for a few moments as he considered the situation. "He's young and healthy, Hook. There's no reason to think that losing a bit more blood would affect him unduly. If we have to, we could give him more blood once we get out of here. And maybe a bit more might be enough to get Lona stabilized."  
  
Hook couldn't really argue with that although he wanted to, hated to see Elmer taking a chance. Lona might be able to hold out, based on the blood Elmer had already donated. At the same time, he also realized that she could easily go the other way as well.  
  
He moved back to Elmer's side with Louis, reaching out and patting the younger doctor's shoulder in the hopes of comforting him as he watched more blood flow through the tubing. Suddenly, he focused on Lona once more, gazing intently at her as if he was trying to drink in every bit of her essence. "Chris?" he called.  
  
"Her color's getting better." Chris said with a slight smile as she looked over at Hook. "And her pulse is stronger."  
  
"Dad?" Elmer could hear them talking, of course, but a dizzy, sick feeling was making it hard to understand what they were saying.  
  
"She's starting to respond." Louis said softly as he patted Elmer's shoulder, a bit of a hardier pat now that some of his worried for Lona were starting to fade.  
  
Elmer couldn't really speak but he just smiled slightly, turning his head to look at Lona as she laid still on the table next to his gurney.  
  
"Why don't you try to get some sleep now? We'll take the IV out in a little bit." Louis said gently. "She's going to be fine, Son, I promise you."  
  
"Don't want to sleep," Elmer muttered even though it was apparent that sleep was already trying to claim him. "Lona might need...."  
  
'We'll take care of Lona. You just rest." As Louis spoke, he reached out and lifted Lona's hand a bit, reaching out and tucking it firmly into his son's grasp. Just sleep. Everything is going to be fine. 


	25. chapter 25

"Excuse me?" Sally called as she came over to the fireman, looking at from him to the pile of debris with obvious worry before speaking. "We were wondering what we could do to help you. Those are our friends that are trapped in there." Dr. Hook and Dr. Draper had definitely become good friends to her through the situation with little Mary and she had always liked Dr. Massingale despite her reluctance to believe in the supernatural.  
As for poor Dr. Traff and his son, that family had been through entirely too much.  
  
The fireman looked down in surprise at this elderly lady asking if she could help them in some way. Before he could speak and suggest Sally go back to her hospital room, though, Bobby spoke as well. "My Mama's right. If our friends need our help.... You said it might take hours to get them out and they may not have that. Just tell us what to do to help."  
  
"Us too." Sonny said as he stepped forward with Dr. Havens as Otto joined Sally and Bobby. They had somehow missed the quake, had almost let Stegman sent the firemen away. Sonny didn't know about the others but he was feeling terribly guilty about that. Okay, Elmer could be a pain and definitely got him into tons of trouble but he was still his friend and Sonny would feel awful if anything happened to him. And as for the others.... He wasn't even going to let himself think about what would happen if Lona had been seriously injured or worse.  
  
"I just got done talking to the nurses upstairs. Anyone they can spare is on their way down, too." Carrie called as she hurried off of the other elevator. "I even talked to Mrs. Powell in medical records. Her nephew's visiting and he'll be right down to help us out." Okay, she wasn't entirely sure that the rather burly and extremely young man was actually Mrs. Powell's nephew but.... Well, he looked like he would be helpful at shifting some of that rubble, anyway.  
  
The fireman stared at the group, not really sure of what to tell them. Okay, standard protocol definitely called for not getting civilians involved in a rescue effort but considering the circumstances.... If they weren't able to get those people out fast, he was definitely concerned that they could lose one or more of them if the call had been completely accurate.  
  
"Okay." He finally nodded in agreement. "First, is there any way,  
any way at all, into that section of the hospital besides this hallway?"  
  
Otto shook his head. "That's one of the main junctures. If there's another way in, I doubt anyone here would know it." He looked down suspiciously, noticing Blondi sitting over in a corner, looking like he was staring at something that no one else could see. If anyone might know a way in, it would likely be the dog. If he could only talk.  
  
The fireman shook his head, not really surprised that things weren't going to be that easy. "Okay, anyone willing to dig, go over there and do exactly what we tell you to do." He glanced down at Sally, not sure of what to tell her. She looked like a nice lady and his mother had always told him never to mention a lady's age but....  
  
"If one of you can loan me a phone, I can order coffee and some sandwiches." Sally said with a smile, sensing what the firefighter was wanting to tell her. "I imagine we're going to need the food soon."  
  
"Just don't go wondering off, okay, Mama?" Bobby said urgently as he approached his mother. "Even if you see that little girl and she begs you to come with her, don't go anywhere! With Stegman down here...."  
  
"Bobby, Stegman isn't down here." Sally said quietly as she looked around. She had sensed something a bit wrong but considering the fact that there were five doctors currently trapped in a caved in basement, she hadn't placed the wrong feeling at first. Now a cold chill ran over her as she noted that the evil neurologist and the other female doctor who always hung around him were missing. She was suddenly very afraid. If Stegman had done what Bobby had been suggesting, shouldn't he still be down here trying to cover his tracks? "Bobby, where is he?"  
  
"That's what I'd like to know," Blondi muttered as he and Antubis moved away from the wall. With all of the people in the basement, they had somehow missed Stegman and Brenda's exit. Looked like it was time for them to go on a Stegman hunt. 


	26. chapter 26

Louis looked up in what he hoped was the direction that Hook and Christine were in as he finished pulling a sheet over his son. Elmer was fast asleep now, Lona's hand firmly clasped in his. Louis was glad that he had been able to sleep, hoping it would allow him a bit of a respite from his worry over Lona. Maybe by the time that Elmer woke up, they would have a way out of here. He was sure that once they got Lona upstairs they could finish patching her up relatively easily. A few days to let that lung heal and see how the spleen did and she would probably be as good as new.  
  
"Does it feel colder in here to either of you?" Louis asked. That was the one thing that was concerning him a bit, the drop in temperature.  
It definitely felt colder to him and he knew that in Lona's condition it wouldn't be good at all if she became too chilled.  
  
"It does feel a little colder." Chris said cautiously as she looked around the room, snuggling up to Hook a bit as she did. "Hook?"  
  
Hook paused before speaking. There was something different but he couldn't quite place what it was, a sound that was so familiar that it was slipping past his brain's ability to lay a finger on it. "Do either of you hear something?" He finally asked, hoping that either Louis or Chris might be able to catch what he was missing.  
  
Louis nodded, tilting his head slightly to try to hear the noise better. "Some sort of humming?" he asked.  
  
"Loud humming." Chris muttered. "Hook, that isn't the...." The sound was familiar, something that she was so used to that she couldn't really place it now.  
  
"The air. It's the air." Hook said flatly as it finally hit him what the noise that he was hearing was. The hospital air system had always emitted a low level hum as it ran and after working there for awhile you just learned to tune it out. The sound was louder now, though, louder than it should be if the air was running at its regular level. "Some idiot has the air turned up full force!"  
  
As he heard Hook's announcement, Louis moved closer to Lona and Elmer, reaching out protectively and adjusting the covers over them,  
wishing that he had something else to cover them with. Lona definitely couldn't afford to become chilled now and after the amount of blood he had donated to her, Elmer really couldn't either.  
  
"You don't think that Stegman...." Chris knew Stegman was evil.  
After all, he had butchered Mona Klingerman's brain and then stolen her research but for him to do this, to try to kill them.... Well, she supposed Stegman was evil enough to do it but she just couldn't see him being willing to go to the work that an actual murder attempt would involve. Goodness knows that he tried hard enough to avoid as much work as possible in the OR.  
  
"Even Johnny isn't stupid enough to turn the air on full force in the middle of October." Hook said with a shake of his head as he moved around the morgue, looking for some way to cut off the air. Several minutes later he stopped when he realized there was nothing, though. He looked over at Lona and Elmer, trying to work out what to do. "Louis?"  
  
"I don't think we can move Lona right now." She seems stable for the moment and I don't want to take any chances with upsetting that unless we have to." With the damage to the spleen freshly repaired, he knew that there was still a danger that the bleeding could restart if they weren't careful. He reached out, gently patting her free hand for a moment before adjusting the covers over her once more and after a slight pause, shrugging off his lab coat and tucking it around her as well.  
  
Hook nodded as he came over and joined Louis, running his eyes over Lona and Elmer, assessing their conditions. Elmer was definitely paler than normal and it was obvious that the blood loss had weakened him a lot.  
Hook was fairly sure that they could get him onto his feet if they had to,  
though. Lona was going to be the real problem. After looking her over he had to agree with Louis that they didn't need to try moving her unless there were no other options. At the same time, he knew that they couldn't just stand there and slowly freeze to death. Did anyone even know that they were missing yet or what had happened in the basement? They had no way of knowing.  
  
"I'm going to get some more blankets from the supply closet." Hook said, making up his mind that there was no way that he could just sit there and wait for help, not while he was able to try to do something to change it. "Then I'm going to go back and see if there's anything I can find, any way out of here or something so we can contact someone and let them know what's going on."  
  
"I'm going with you." Chris said firmly as she looked over at him.  
She couldn't stand stay there anymore than Hook could, hoping that someone would find them in time. And there was no way that she was letting Hook go into a potentially dangerous situation without her.  
  
"Chris...." Hook didn't want to mention Louis's vision problem unless he had to but he didn't think it was a good idea for him to be left alone to tend Lona and Elmer in his current state.  
  
"Hook, it will be fine." Louis said firmly. "If I have to, I can wake Elmer up but for the moment Lona's stable. The important thing now is getting out of here and Chris will be more help to you trying to do that than she would be here with me. I'll be fine. Just get the blankets and go."  
  
Hook looked at Louis for a moment before making up his mind. He hated to leave and definitely hated for Chris to come with him, didn't want to risk any danger to her almost as much as he didn't want to leave Louis alone in his condition. The did need out of there as soon as possible though and tow people trying to find a way out would be better than one.  
"Alright. We'll be right back with the blankets. If anything changes though, yell for us." 


	27. chapter 27

Antubis and Blondi looked around the corner, watching unknown to Stegman and Brenda as Stegman busily worked on the master controls to the hospital air system.  
  
"Can he actually use that?" Antubis asked the dog. "Doesn't it have to be idiot proofed or something for some safety regulation?"  
  
"It was but Johnny B. Goode couldn't figure out how to get it going so Dr. James had the idiotproofing taken out." Blondi shook his head as he thought of yet another boneheaded move in what was a very long succession of boneheaded moves that the head of the hospital had made. Even with the idiot proofing gone, he wasn't entirely sure that Stegman could work the air enough to turn it down low enough to freeze the people in the basement without freezing the entire hospital. Would Stegman really care if he killed a few more people than planned, though? He certainly hadn't cared that there would be several innocent casualties of his vendetta against Hook in the earthquake aftermath. As he saw Stegman actually twisting something, cranking it almost so far to the right that it nearly broke off in his hand, the dog realized that they needed to do something.  
  
Blondi moved forward, his eyes flashing as he started to growl,  
Antubis right behind him, the anteater's own growl adding to the rather threatening volume.  
  
"It's just Otto's dog." Brenda said with a sigh as she saw Blondi.  
She had been afraid that someone might have spotted them tampering with the air. This plan seemed to be falling totally apart. first, Mona Klingerman had somehow vanished without any sign of where she could have gone and then the collapse in the basement had been discovered much too soon. She wasn't sure how they were ever going to get their plan back on track now.  
  
"Did you see that?" Stegman jumped as he saw Blondi's eyes flash red.  
  
"What? It's just Otto's dog. I don't know why they let him keep that thing around here anyway. It probably has fleas and it looks very unsanitary." Brenda said with a frown. Why was Steg suddenly looking so panicked?  
  
"Probably has rabies too. Thing ought to be shot." Steg muttered as he started to slowly back down the hallway away from Blondi, motioning for Brenda to follow him. The air had been turned down low enough that he was sure that Hook would be dead soon if he wasn't already.  
  
As Stegman backed away, Antubis moved behind him, growling suddenly as Stegman ran into him and tripped falling backwards over the anteater and almost turning a somersault as he fell.  
  
"Steg?" Brenda called as she rushed over to him, reaching out to help him up. "What happened?"  
  
"That dog...." Steg looked back at Blondi as the dog's eyes flashed again. "I swear I'm going to shoot that thing." He shook his head, giving up for the moment on figuring out what was going on. "Let's get out of here. That little Mona Klingerman brat is still roaming around and we have to find her before someone else can."  
  
"Did you see him flip like that?" Antubis said with a chuckle as he headed down the hallway once more to join his friend. "So, what did he do to the air?"  
  
Blondi stood on his rear paws to check the damage. "Well, it looks like he turned it to.... ice cube?"  
  
"Ice cube?" Antubis joined his friend in checking out the air controls. "Why does your air have pictures instead of numbers on it?"  
  
"Johnny's dumber than I thought?" Blondi shook his head. How could Johnny be dumber than that, though? "Okay, the air's on ice cube,  
which obviously isn't good. So we need to turn it over a bit." The dog watched closely as Antubis started to nudge at the knob. "Okay, no that's too far! You've got it on hot dog roast! You want it to be on smiley face. Smiley face probably means happy patient, right?"  
  
"How stupid can he be to need pictures instead of numbers?"  
Antubis muttered as he shook his head for a moment before nudging the dial back a bit until it rested on the yellow happy face. Then the anteater reared up on his rear paws, teeth flashing as he bit down, snapping the knob off. At least if Stegman came back, he couldn't make any more little adjustments.  
  
"Come on." He motioned with his head for Blondi to follow him down the hallway. "We better check those humans down in the basement, see if they're all still in one piece." 


	28. chapter 28

"So, want to tell me what's going on?" Chris asked Hook as the two of them headed down the hallway. At least it seemed like that the temperature wasn't as low now, more like what the hospital temperature nearly was always set at. "You and Louis were both acting funny back there."  
  
Hook paused before speaking. He had promised not to tell about Louis's eyes but the idea of keeping something from Chris.... He had just promised not to tell Elmer, though, he suddenly recalled. Louis hadn't said anything about not telling Chris.  
  
"Louis got hit in the head with a light when the quake hit. He's having problems with his vision. Everything's basically a blur for him."  
Hook told Chris.  
  
Chris's eyes widened in shock at that. She had thought that whatever was going on was probably connected to Lona's condition and definitely hadn't suspected at all that Louis might have been hurt too.  
"Wait a minute, you were letting him do the IVs and...."  
  
"Didn't have much choice. We would have lost Lona if he hadn't been able to help." Hook told Chris, dropping to the ground against a wall and motioning for her to join him. He signed slightly as she snuggled back against him.  
  
Chris didn't speak for a moment, thinking over the situation. She knew that what Hook said was right and that they definitely would have lost Lona if the surgery had been delayed at all. When she really thought about it, it had been extremely brave of Louis to try to carry on with his injuries. "Should we have left them, though?" she asked.  
  
"Lona's stable and with the amount of blood that Elmer gave her, I have a feeling she's going to stay that way. I don't think there's going to be anything he can't handle. Both of them will probably be out like lights for hours and hopefully we'll be out of here by then." Hook wrapped an arm around Chris as he spoke, holding her close.  
  
"So, what do you think's wrong with him?" She asked after a moment.  
  
"Louis? Not sure. Probably won't be until we can run a scan.  
Could be a small blood clot pressing on the optic nerve, could be swelling,  
could be pretty much anything." Hook said with a shake of his head.  
  
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Chris wasn't sure how in the world they would ever tell Elmer if something major was actually wrong with his father. That coming on top of Lona's injuries might turn out to be too much for the younger doctor, she was afraid. And it wasn't only Elmer that worried her. They had been down here a long time. If Louis did have something serious going on then what if the delay in treatment had resulted in some permanent damage?  
  
"It could have. I don't know." Hook said, almost as if he was reading her mind. "All I know is that we can't do anything until we get upstairs and we can't do that unless we either find a way out of here or someone comes down here and finds us."  
  
"And with Stegman on the loose, who knows when that might happen."  
Chris said with a shake of her head as she let Hook help her to her feet.  
"Well, which way do you want to go to look for a way out?"  
  
"Why don't we head back for the collapse site? I want to take another look at that, see if there's anything we can do to get some of that rubble out of the way ourselves, maybe clear enough to make ourselves heard if someone does come looking." Hook told her after thinking about it for a moment.  
  
"I suppose that's about as good a plan as any." Chris said slowly.  
She just hoped that someone would come looking for them soon. She definitely agreed with Hook that Lona was doing much better but she still needed to get upstairs soon for some proper care and Louis needed help as well. Surely someone would come looking for them soon. How long could Steg hide their absence from the rest of the staff? 


	29. chapter 29

"What is going on here?" Dr. James called as he came into the basement. He had just arrived at the hospital a few minutes before and had been totally shocked by the sight of the fire engines out front and the rather loud noises coming from downstairs. "What happened?"  
  
"Dr. James, where have you been?" Carrie demanded. Normally she would have been much too afraid to use a tone like that with one of her superiors but with the current situation and Dr. James being stupid enough to leave Stegman in charge of the hospital.... "Where have you been?  
Otto's been trying to get ahold of you for the last thirty minutes!"  
  
"My brother came to town for a visit and offered to make dinner.  
They reassure me that the fire damage was minimal, though, and the smoke should clear in a few days." Jesse said with a shake of his head. In retrospect, he should have recalled the fact that his brother had been thrown out of culinary school for a reason. "What happened? Where's Dr.  
Hook?"  
  
"Dr. Hook is trapped in there." Sally said as she came forward,  
followed by Abel and Christa, all three carrying large trays of various foods, sandwiches and pizza.  
  
"What? What happened?" Jesse demanded. Well, obviously he couldn't try to cover this one up.  
  
"There was another tremor about four hours ago now." Dr. Havens said as he came over. He wasn't really sure that the hospital's rather brainless administrator would be much help but he supposed that if they had to,  
they could get him to help move the debris. Surely he couldn't goof that up too much. "The quake took out the basement cameras so we didn't realize that there was a problem until the fire department showed up. Apparently someone found out about the situation somehow and called them."  
  
"Any idea who?" Jesse moved towards the debris as he talked, Henry following after him. If he could find out who had called and reported this, he would definitely make sure they were properly rewarded. Okay, he had tried to cover the earthquakes up to protect the hospital's reputation but he wasn't going to cover things up to the point that the staff was endangered.  
"Is anyone else down there besides Dr. Hook?"  
  
"Dr. Draper, both of the Traffs and Dr. Massingale." Henry told Jesse, both of them reaching out and starting to work on clearing the rubble as they talked. "According to the call, Lona was injured, something internal possibly."  
  
"Any idea how serious?" Jesse asked. "Have you heard anything from in there?" A cold feeling started washing over him at the idea that someone might have actually been injured by the quake. He would never want someone to be harmed in any way, not even to protect the hospital's reputation. Nothing was worth that.  
  
"Nothing." Henry said with a shake of his head. He was frankly getting more than a bit worried about that. He just hoped that the debris pile was blocking them from hearing any sort of response from inside.  
  
"How could that long pass without anyone looking for Dr. Hook,  
anyway? Was the hospital actually calm tonight?" Jesse asked as he tugged at the debris.  
  
"What do you mean?" Henry asked.  
  
"Well, I left Dr. Hook in charge. Don't tell me that the one day I left someone else to run things was the one time the hospital didn't have a single crisis!"  
  
"What? Dr. Stegman said that he had been left in charge." Henry told Jesse. Had Jesse made a mistake and left two completely different people in charge of things?  
  
"Dr. Stegman made a mistake if he thought that." Jesse said with a firm shake of his head. Oh, he was definitely getting a bad feeling about this. He had a feeling that he ought to do something about Stegman, at least send someone to hunt him down and make sure he was on his best behavior until Jesse could talk to Hook and Louis and reach a decision about what should be done. "That will teach me to interview people the day after I eat with my brother." He muttered under his breath, surveying the pile of debris quickly. No, he didn't have time to do anything about Stegman at the moment. They needed everyone they could get down here to work on this.  
  
He stopped for a moment, heading over to where Sally, Christa and Abel were passing the food around. "Christa, Abel, and it's Mrs. Druse,  
isn't it?" Jesse looked at her curiously for a moment. She surely didn't seem to be showing any signs of the stroke she supposedly had suffered now.  
Never mind that moment, though. "Could I trouble you to go upstairs and see about getting some blankets brought down?" That was about the only supply he could think of to retrieve for the moment, at least until they had a better idea what was going on. He just hoped that warm blankets and food would turn out to be the only things that they would need. 


	30. chapter 30

"Thank you." Jesse said as he saw Abel, Christa and Sally exiting the elevator with the blankets. "If you'll just put the things over there and...." He paused for a moment as he thought. If anyone was hurt,  
especially if Lona was injured like the report had said she had been, he knew that they would likely need more supplies or a body.... No, he wouldn't think they might need one of those. If anyone had been seriously harmed... He knew he should have done something about the problem with the earthquakes long before now instead of just trying to cover them up. Why hadn't he taken things more seriously? If anyone had been hurt or killed he would never forgive himself!

"Have you heard anything from in there?" Sally asked as she moved over to Bobby's side. She was slightly surprised that he son was actually still hard at work. That was probably a first for him.

"Nothing, Mama, and I don't want you to go wandering off anywhere"  
Bobby told her firmly. "Stegman's around here somewhere and I don't want him anywhere near you!" If Stegman got his hands on his mama, Bobby didn't even want to think about what the seriously deranged doctor might do to her.

Sally nodded her head in agreement. Although, of course, she hated to pass up any chance to find out more about little, lost Mary, she knew that Bobby was only concerned for her safety. Although he could be a bit much at times with his laziness and his lack of faith in the supernatural,  
Sally adored him and wouldn't do anything to alarm him if it was unnecessary. She drifted across the area where people were working to join Abel and Christa in passing out food again. If they would only get some sort of good news soon. She started to silently pray as she passed out the drinks. 'Mary, wherever you are, child, please protect them in there now.'

'Well, at least they're making a small attempt at a rescue'  
Antubis said as he and Blondi watched the firefighters and staff working to move the debris out of the way.

'They got Bobby Druse to actually do some work.' the dog said with a shake of his head. 'Now there's something that you don't see everyday.  
What's next, Johnny actually doing his job for a change?'

'Somehow, I doubt that. He's the janitor, after all. His job involves cleaning this up. I wouldn't count on seeing him here for at least a week.' Antubis said, motioning for his friend to follow him as the two animals slipped silently and unnoticed along the wall and then walked through the debris pile and into the blocked section of the hospital.

'I wonder if they were able to do anything for Dr. Massingale'  
Blondi asked as the two headed down the hallway looking for any sign of the trapped doctors.

'I don't know if there was anything that could be done, at least not down here.' Okay, ever since the events of over two hundred years before, the anteater had tried to distance himself from the humans, to not let himself care about what he knew their eventual fate would be. His time with Mary had changed that decision more than a bit, though, especially in these last few weeks with the situation with Peter. There was a human that he definitely liked.

'Do you think they'll have nice food for her funeral if she dies'  
Blondi said. 'I hope they don't have the hospital cafeteria cater'  
Better to think about food than the seriousness of the current situation.  
If Lona did die, what were they going to do? They knew that it was Stegman's fault but how could they make the humans see that he was a murderer? They couldn't just let him get away with it. And then there was how Elmer would take it if Lona died. That nutty human would go even nuttier if such a thing was possible.

Suddenly, Antubis stopped for a moment. 'This way. I thought I heard some of them.' Had the humans separated for some reason? He hoped not. It was so much easier to supervise them if you could herd them into one place.

A moment later, the two animals peered around the corner as Hook and Chris came into view. 'Well, at least those two seem okay.' Antubis muttered. 'Come on, let's check and see if the others are still down in the morgue.' He was definitely more than a little concerned about Lona and her injuries.

"Hook, did you just see something down there?" Chris asked as she reached out and grabbed his arm with one hand, pointing in the direction in which Blondi and Antubis had vanished with the other.

"It looked like Otto's dog." Hook said after a moment. But how would Blondi.... "Come on. We need to get to the collapse site. If that was Blondi, then maybe there's a way out!"

A few minutes later, the two were inspecting the pile of debris.  
"I don't see anything." Chris said with a shake of her head. Blondi wasn't exactly a small dog. Surely they would see a space large enough for him to squeeze though.

"Keep looking." They had to get out of here and the sooner the better. Lona and Louis both needed attention. "Hey, is anyone out there?!" Hook called.

Jesse stopped tugging at the pile of debris as he thought he heard a noise. "Wait a minute." he called to the others. "I think I heard something!" He moved closer to the debris, straining his ears for any noise. "Hook?" Let it the other doctor, just let it be the other doctor saying that everything was fine and they just needed to be dug out.

Hook shook his head when he recognized the voice, Dr. James. Would he actually be any help to them or.... Not like they had any choice,  
though. "Dr. James?" he called in reply.

"Here." one of the firefighters said as he hurried over. "Let's see if we can get a microphone in there." At least it looked like one of them was alive anyway, a definite good thing.

"Dr. Hook?" Jesse called once more. "They're going to try to get a microphone in there to you. Is everyone alright?"

Chris and Hook both sighed when they saw the microphone appear through a crack in the debris a few minutes later. "Dr. James?" he called as he picked it up.

Yes. Jesse sighed himself. Hook sounded perfectly fine anyway.  
"Dr. Hook, we're working on getting you out as fast as we can. Is everyone alright in there?"

"Chris and I are fine and Elmer's pretty much okay." Hook said after a moment's thought. "Louis and Lona are both hurt, though."

"How bad?" Jesse felt a cold chill run over him at Hook's words about injuries. If anyone was seriously hurt....

"Louis took a hit to the head when one of the lights in the morgue fell on him. He's having vision problems. I need you to contact radiology, get them to get set up for a MRI as soon as we can get out of here and get an ophthalmologist consult in here." At least if Jesse ordered it, they wouldn't have to listen to Stegman's complaints about unauthorized scans, a small blessing, anyway. "Part of the sleep lab ceiling fell in on Lona. She's got a collapsed lung that Elmer managed to fix for the moment and there was damage to the spleen."

That definitely didn't sound good. "How bad is it?" Jesse called,  
motioning for Liz, the closest nurse, to join him and jot down what Hook needed.

"We have the bleeding stopped and she's stable for the moment but she needs to be upstairs for further treatment. We need a chest tube setup and at least a couple of units of O negative blood ready to go as soon as you can get this out of the way. Tell radiology I'm going to need an abdominal ultrasound STAT and someone needs to pull Lona's records, see what antibiotics she can have. She's definitely going to need something.  
We had to do the surgery in the morgue and it isn't exactly set up for live people down there. Make sure they have an open OR or someone that can be bumped if we have to, too."

"We'll take care of it." Jesse said as he motioned for Liz to go and get the ball rolling on contacting the needed departments and gathering supplies. "Just hold on, alright? We'll have everyone out as soon as possible." 


	31. chapter 31

Louis gently reached out, carefully touching his son's face for a moment. Did Elmer even realize how much he cared? Louis felt a wave of sadness wash over him as he thought of his relationship with his son. How had he let things go so wrong and was the damage too severe to fix? He hoped that it wasn't, had hoped that having Elmer work at the hospital with him would have helped things but.... He gently reached out once more and touched Elmer again before turning his attention back to Lona and assessing her condition. Pulse was still there, weak, of course, but steady, a definite good sign. If they could just get her out of there and upstairs for proper treatment, he had a feeling that she would be fine.

He reached down, feeling that Elmer was still clinging tightly to Lona's hand even in sleep before taking one of the larger blankets that Hook had found and draping it across both of the side by side gurneys to cover them. It was a bit warmer now but definitely not as warm as he would like it to be considering their situation and Lona's injuries.

"It's going to be fine." Louis whispered softly to his son as he reached out and took Elmer's free hand, gently holding it for a moment before tucking it back under the covers. He wished that Elmer would wake up for a bit although he knew that sleep was the best thing for him at the moment, sparing him from worrying for Lona anyway. They hadn't really had any time to just talk in so long. Or had they ever really talked? "I didn't care about Edgar more, you know." Louis said softly. "I know you thought that but...." He could understand why Elmer would have believed that too. It seemed that through most of his younger son's childhood, he had been moving from crisis to crisis with his older son, leaving Elmer in the background. Was that why Elmer did some of the things that he did now?  
Louis had a feeling that it might be. "I'm sorry, Elmer." he continued,  
now glad that his son wasn't awake to hear this, knowing if Elmer had been he wouldn't have been able to say it. "I'm so, so sorry I wasn't there for you."

Although he couldn't see, he closed his eyes anyway as memories of the past started to come back. He knew he had made more than his share of mistakes and no matter how hard he tried to justify it, to explain away the things that he had done being due to the fact that he had been left with a seven year old and a newborn after Emma's accident and her subsequent slip into addiction, he knew that he could have done better, should have done better. Elmer had been his miracle, the child he had tried so hard to save, the one had had been terrified that he was going to lose before he ever saw him. Had he ever let his son know that, how desperately he had wanted him?

"I promise when we get out of this, I'm going to try harder"  
Louis whispered. "I want to be a good father, Elmer. I promise that I do." Was it something about being blind, something that was suddenly making him see things clearly?

"Dad?" Louis looked down when he heard his son's voice suddenly calling.

"It's okay." he whispered. "Just go back to sleep now. Chris and Hook went to see about finding a way out for us. It's alright."

"Lona? Is Lona...." Elmer wasn't really fully awake, just drifting in a semi-conscious daze, but his fears for Lona came through to his father loud and clear.

"Lona's fine. She's going to be fine thanks to you. Now go back to sleep. Everything is going to be fine." Louis gently patted his son's shoulder, tucking the blankets more securely around him as he felt Elmer starting to drift off once more. Sleep, no matter how much Louis would have liked to talk to him, he knew that sleep was exactly what his son needed at the moment.

Gottreich sneered as he watched Louis comforting his son. So pathetic, the mortals, with their petty little emotions and love. You would never see one of his kind acting so foolishly, letting themselves become vulnerable. And for what? The boy was a total idiot. His father would be doing everyone a favor if he disposed of him now while he slept.

Gottreich started to slowly move forward, as he did, extracting a syringe from his pocket, the tip coated with what appeared to be dried blood. He supposed it was his task to dispose of them, though. Goodness knows that that brainless assistant of his didn't have the skill to do it,  
always trying to get others to do his dirty work for him or leaving an out so his victims could escape at the last moment. If Gottreich had been so foolish, that pest Maddie Kruger would still be roaming about as well as Laurel Whirling.

His pale lips twitched slightly as he thought of the two women.  
Now that was the way to kill someone, with due planning so the death would be ruled a suicide, not sloppy like Paul wanted to do it. Luckily, he had saved some of the warfarin from his disposal of the nurse. An injection of that into the woman's IV should be more than enough to take care of the problem. The men other two would never know what had happened until it was too late and then guilt would dispose of them as well. He smirked once more as he moved forward, easing around Louis, slowly reaching out and snagging the closest IV line. This was going to be easy. 


	32. chapter 32

Suddenly Louis looked over at Lona, not sure what had drawn his attention but suddenly aware that something, something serious, was going on. His brow furrowed as he reached out, gently touching the IV lines running into Lona's arms, surprised to feel a tension in one of the lines as if someone else was touching it as well. But.... Not Elmer, he knew and if Chris or Hook had returned they would have announced themselves.  
Louis was sure that Hook had told Chris about his eyes, after all.

"Who's there?" Louis called, running the fingers of one hand up the IV line while reaching down with another, trying to find the plastic port that was in Lona's arm. He didn't know how he knew this but he had a very bad feeling that they were in definite danger. If anything happened to Lona.... "Who's there?" He demanded again, this time angrily. He could tell now that someone was definitely tampering with the IV and the fact that they weren't reacting to him calling.... Stegman? Could Stegman have figured a way in somehow? Would he do something to hurt Lona, though?  
Louis thought that his vendetta was aimed at Hook alone.

Gottreich stared at Louis in distain as the doctor fumbled around like some sort of imbecile. actually thinking that there was something that he could do to stop him. He raised the needle once more, inserting it into the IV line and preparing to push the plunger down, sending the lethal dose of the drug into Lona's veins. If that idiot boy would just pay attention to things like this, he wouldn't make so many mistakes, wouldn't fail time after time.

Suddenly, Louis felt icy cold fingers on the IV line. A ghost. He didn't know why that was his first thought but it was followed immediately by the thought that Mrs. Druse was right after all with her claims that the hospital was haunted. She would be delighted when he told her. This is if any of them lived long enough to tell her. This ghost was doing something,  
trying to harm Lona somehow.

Gottreich was startled when just as he pushed down on the syringe,  
injecting the drug, Louis grabbed his hand, forcing him back and away from Lona.

"I don't know what you are," Louis hissed, trying his best to grab at whatever the thing threatening Lona was without causing any excessive movement to the table she was lying on. What had this thing been trying to do to her and had he pushed it away in time? "But I'm not letting you hurt her! Get out of here whatever you are!"

Gottreich barely suppressed a growl as Louis grappled with him,  
trying to force him away. Who did this fool think that he was, trying to stop him from his work? With an impatient gesture, he shoved Louis away,  
sending him flying back against the wall with a crash before turning his attention to Lona once more. He reached out, snagging the IV line again and raising the needle to finish the injection. A doctor must always finish what he had started.

"I told you to leave her alone!" Louis felt his head swimming, his vision fading even more as he struggled to his feet. He felt like he might pass out at any moment but he fought against him. Lona needed him to protect her and Elmer.... What if whatever this thing was went after his son next? "No! Leave them alone!" Louis winced as he banged into the table Lona was lying on, causing it to jolt in a frightening manner with the impact as he grabbed Gottreich's hand once more, forcing the needle up just before it could be inserted into the IV line.

"Dad?" Elmer sleepily opened his eyes, puzzlement washing over him at what he was seeing. His dad was fighting with someone, pulling at an old man dressed in what looked like an ancient doctor's outfit. Why would someone dressed like that be down here and why would his father be fighting with them? "Dad?" Elmer tried to pull himself upright but the room swam with the motion. "Dad?" His father needed his help but.... Why wouldn't the room stop spinning, though?

"Elmer, take care of Lona! Don't let whoever this is touch her"  
Louis couldn't see but as long as he could feel.... He drug Gottreich further away from his son and Lona's sides, falling himself as he pushed him into the wall, tumbling on top of him, a sudden burning sensation in his upper arm as he landed.

"Get off of me!" Gottreich hit Louis once more, sending him flying across the room into the wall, where this time he laid still. Gottreich pulled himself to his feet once more, reaching down and picking up the needle as he brushed himself off. Time to finish what he had came for before the unfortunate interruption. 


	33. chapter 33

Elmer frowned, what was happening not quite sinking in with him but.... "Dad?" He called for his father anxiously, struggling to pull himself upright and off of the table. The room swam around him as he moved but this time, somehow, he was able to get to his feet. That man had done something, had hurt his father and.... Elmer shook his head, trying desperately to clear it. He had his problems with his father it was true but.... If anything had happened to him....

"What do you want?" Elmer demanded. He could hear Louis starting to moan slightly, comforting him with the knowledge that he hadn't lost his last remaining parent anyway. His dad had told him to protect Lona. He had to.... He forced his mind to focus on that, to try to clear enough for him to manage that one thing anyway. If anything happened to her, if anything happened to his father.... "What do you want?" he demanded again. He could see now that the old doctor had a syringe, one that definitely didn't look very sanitary, and he was holding it up in a rather threatening fashion. "Go away! Leave us alone!"

Gottreich didn't speak, just laughed slightly at Elmer thinking that he could actually order him to do something and expect to be obeyed.  
The boy was a bigger fool that Paul was. Honestly, the young were just so idiotic these days. Perhaps he would dispose of this one as well after finishing the woman. He was much too stupid to be allowed to live, much like his brother.

"I told you to get out of here!" Where were Hook and Chris?  
Although Elmer would die before he let this nutty looking doctor touch Lona or his father, he knew that physically he was probably too weak to put up much of an actual fight against him. "Get out of here! We didn't do anything to you! Leave them alone!" Elmer looked around frantically,  
searching for something, anything, that he could use as a weapon.

"Step aside, boy, if you want to live a bit longer." Gottreich said with a condescending look as he continued forward. He had used a bit of the drug on the boy's fool father but there was more than enough left to finish the woman off as well.

"No!" Elmer moved forward, weaving but determination keeping him on his feet as he shoved at Gottreich, grabbing for his hand, trying to knock the syringe away. His eyes widened at how cold the doctor felt,  
deathly cold. Was this one of Mrs. Druse's ghosts, perhaps? But he had thought that the ghost she kept talking about was some little girl and....

"Idiot!" Gottreich tried to shove Elmer away, anger building. Who were these people to try to stand in his way? Did they not know who he was, who his family were? How could they think that their feeble attempts to stop him could have any hope of success?

"I won't let you hurt them! Go away!" Why wasn't Hook coming back already? This man, ghost maybe, was strong, unnaturally strong, and Elmer could feel his strength fast fading as he tried to push him back, to knock the needle away from him. He didn't know what was in it but he was sure that it wasn't anything good. His fingers slipped as the man started to gain the upper hand over him but.... Elmer closed his eyes for a moment,  
not sure that he could do this before releasing his hold, grabbing up for the barrel of the syringe and squeezing as hard as he could. The needle looked old, maybe not plastic like current needles. Maybe....

Fool boy!" Gottreich shouted as somehow, the needle shattered in their hands, glass falling to the floor, sinking into Elmer's palm. He shoved Elmer away, sending him crashing into the wall and landing by his fool of a father's side. As much as he hated to, it seemed that he would have to use cruder methods now. He reached out for Lona, his hands starting to wrap around her throat.

No...." The room was swimming even more now but Elmer struggled against it, trying to get to his feet. His palms were throbbing from the cuts but.... "No, leave her alone!" He was suddenly somehow upright and lurching towards Gottreich once more. Over his dead body was Lona going to be hurt! He wouldn't allow it!

Before Gottreich could touch Elmer once more, could push him away again, suddenly a loud roar filled the air as Antubis and Blondi both came through the wall.

Elmer abruptly sat down on the floor, shaking his swimming head,  
not sure that he wasn't a little further gone than he had been thinking as he watched the scene in front of him. There was Otto's dog and then something else.... He shook his head, trying to clear it. Wasn't that the thing he had seen in his dream once, the thing with the big teeth and.... It seemed that the old doctor was afraid of the creature, though,  
or at least backing away as it swiped at him with long claws. Surely that meant that whatever it was, it was friendly. Well, friendlier, anyway.

Antubis growled once more as Gottreich vanished through the wall.  
Out of the two, he would definitely prefer dealing with Paul over his master. The boy was more of a nuisance but Gottriech.... The old doctor was a deadly threat. 'Want to tell me what happened?' the anteater asked as he came over to Elmer, poking the young doctor with his snout.

"Ummmmm...." Did that anteater just talk? Elmer looked at Antubis in shock and puzzlement followed a few seconds later by acceptance. Okay,  
a talking anteater probably meant that he had just lost his mind but he was willing to go with that. The talking anteater seemed like the only thing available for help at the moment, after all. "He did something. He was trying to hurt Lona and then my dad...."

Elmer felt fear wash over him as he remembered his father and what the doctor had done. "Dad?" he called anxiously as he struggled to pull himself up, blood dripping from the cuts on his hands. "Dad?" he could hear Louis moaning. Why wasn't he answering him? Elmer glanced over at Lona, wanting to go and check her, but knowing that right now his father needed him more. "Dad?" Elmer's eyes widened with shock as he dropped to the ground by his father, saw the bruises that were now covering Louis's arms. "Dad?" he reached out, gently touching his father's shoulder,  
trying to wake him up fully. What had happened? What had that doctor done to his father?

'Warfarin.' Blondi called as he raised his nose from sniffing the remains of the syringe. 'Where does he keep getting that stuff, anyway?  
You would think the humans would guard the pharmacy a little better.' It really didn't say much for hospital security that Gottreich kept strolling off with drugs, something that worried Blondi more than a bit, seeing as his human was supposed to be in charge of such things.

Warfarin? Did the dog just say that what had been in the syringe was.... Elmer felt almost overwhelming fright washing over him now. His dad had been.... And Lona? Did she get injected to? "Dad, please wake up!" Elmer called frantically for his father. No, this couldn't be happening! He could lose both of them. "Dad!" 


	34. chapter 34

The first thing that Louis noticed was the lack of pain, definitely not what he had been expecting after his struggle with whatever the thing was who had been after Lona. He felt cold, numb, his eyelids almost too heavy to open them. From somewhere far away, though, he could hear someone calling for him, though. Elmer? He suddenly realized the voice was his son's and struggled to force himself back to consciousness once more.  
Whatever that thing was, Elmer had been left alone to fight it. If anything happened to his son....

"Dad?" Elmer called for his father, definite panic in his voice as he took in the extent of the bruising. How much of that drug had his dad been injected with? He knew there had been some of the drug remaining in the syringe when it had broken in his hands and the doctor seemed to think there was enough there to finish off Lona but how much had there been to start with? Enough to kill his father? Elmer was very afraid that the answer to that question was yes. "Dad, please wake up!" Why wasn't he responding? The doctor had thrown him against the wall. Had he hit his head and.... Elmer could feel tears starting to form as he realized exactly what might have happened, having to shake his head fiercely to force those images away. No, he couldn't go through this, couldn't lose his only remaining parent like this, not so soon after losing his mom and... Had he ever told his dad how much he had cared for him or had he just treated him with constant resentment because of his favoritism towards Edgar? If something happened to him now, if they never had a chance to work things out.... "Dad, please wake up!" Elmer reached out, gently touching his father's face, a bit afraid that any touch could trigger additional bleeding but wanting the contact all the same. He was cold, cold to the touch.

"Dad, I'm going to get a blanket for you, okay?" Keep him warm.  
Elmer thought that was what you were supposed to do in a situation like this. He didn't want to move from his father's side but he struggled to pull himself to his feet anyway, knowing that all that sitting there was doing was proving that he was as big a loser as everyone thought he was.  
Did they have more blankets? He didn't want to have to take any of the blankets covering Lona away, knowing that she needed them just as badly but.... Lona. Elmer felt even more fear if such a thing was possible as he looked down at her, his search for the blankets forgotten for a second. Had the doctor done something to her as well? Would he even be able to tell if she had been injected or would she just start to bleed internally and slip silently away? If he lost her.... But then there was his dad too. How could he take care of one and not the other when both were so sick? He reached out, gently touching Lona, feeling her breathing and pulse. His head was still swimming and he didn't know how he was staying on his feet, didn't know if he would be able to detect a problem if there was one but.... She seemed the same, though, or at least he thought that she did. Could he be sure? He started to move the blankets slightly, wanting to check her a bit more but a moan from his father caused him to turn his attention. "It's going to be okay, Lona," he whispered softly as he pressed a kiss against her forehead before scooping some of the extra blankets up. As much as he didn't want to move from her side, he knew that his father needed him. "I'm just going to patch up my dad and then we'll take care of you, okay?"

"Dad?" Elmer hurried to his father's side once more, dropping down beside him and tucking the blanket around him as carefully as he could.  
"Dad?" His head was starting to actually clear a bit now but it still wasn't helping him with what he should do. How could he chose between his father and Lona? He thought that Lona was probably okay but.... And his dad definitely wasn't. "Dad?" Where were Hook and Chris? If they had stopped to make out somewhere.... Didn't they get enough time for that in the elevators? He had had to hike up five flights of stairs only the day before because they were tying up the elevator. "Dad?" He reached out, gently touching his father's face. Should he do something else, try to make him more comfortable? Elmer was afraid to try moving him, though, afraid it could trigger more bleeding.

Louis tried to move his head, to clear it and force his eyes to open but he couldn't quite manage it. It felt as if something was pulling at him, draining his energy, pulling him down. He struggled against it,  
though, hearing Elmer calling for him, obvious panic in his voice. Had whatever that thing had been done something, hurt his son? If anything happened to Elmer or Lona, he would never forgive himself! "Elmer?" Fear for his son was finally enough to overcome the growing weakness and Louis forced his eyes open, looking in what he hoped was his son's direction.  
"Elmer?" His voice was weak, barely audible but.... Was whatever that thing was still here? If it was, he had to do something, had to stop it somehow.  
He couldn't let it hurt Elmer and Lona!

"Dad, just lay still, okay?" He was awake. Surely that was a good sign or at least he hoped that it was. "Just stay still." That would help.  
Elmer was sure that would help and.... They were in a hospital, weren't they? There had to be some sort of medicine around here that would treat this, that would fix it. Didn't they have to have something in case a ghost decided to do this to a patient instead of the staff?

'He already did that.' Antubis muttered. 'Of course, she did work here before the hospital drove her insane so maybe she didn't count as a full patient.' He shook his head as he looked down at Louis. The human definitely didn't look good and the anteater was starting to wonder if he and Mary might have overlooked an injury earlier.

"Laurel Whirling?" Okay, he was having a chat with a large anteater. Definite sign that he was certifiable. Elmer shook his head,  
trying to force that away, not letting him think about anything else but helping his father right now and certainly not about the nurse's rather gruesome death. Could his dad..... No, that couldn't happen to his father!  
Surely that doctor couldn't have given him to much of the medicine. They could fix this. He was sure they could fix this.

"Elmer, is Lona...." Louis felt a shiver run down his body as he spoke. Something was wrong, he could definitely tell that something was wrong. "Did whatever that was do something to the IV? I tried to pull it but...." If something had happened to her, he would never forgive himself.  
What had he been thinking, not taking his injury into account, arrogantly assuming that he would be able to function as well as ever? If Lona was hurt because of him.... "Elmer?"

"You pulled the IV?" Elmer whispered. His father had saved Lona's life? His eyes widened as he thought of it, that if his dad hadn't.... And now his dad might be.....

"Is she okay?" It sounded like Elmer was crying. Did that mean he hadn't got it out in time or.... Louis closed his eyes, pain at the thought that something might have happened to Lona washing over him. What had he been thinking? The voice in the back of his head was starting again too, taunting him. 'Couldn't save the woman you loved. Why were you fool enough to believe that you could save the woman your son loved?'

"She's fine." Elmer said gently. "You just need to stay still now,  
okay? Please, just stay still right now." There was a way to fix this.  
There had to be a way to fix this. His mind ran frantically back over his medical classes, searching for something, anything, that he could do.  
'He's going to die.' he heard the familiar little voice whisper. 'He's going to die because your an idiot. If your brother was here....'

'Been hearing that little voice in your head long?' Antubis asked.  
And the human had issues with a talking anteater when he was hearing voices?

"Is someone there?" Louis asked at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. Help, please let help finally be there for them. He wouldn't rest easily until he was sure that Lona had been tended and....

"Just proof I'm loosing it." Elmer muttered with a shake of his head. "You just stay really still right now, okay, Dad? It's going to be fine." Wasn't there something, some sort of vitamin, that was supposed to help with bleeding? He was almost sure that there was but which one and where would he find it down here?

Louis was quiet for a moment. Why was Elmer.... Suddenly, he recalled the burning in his arm when he had fallen, landing on top of whatever that thing was. "Warfarin? It was warfarin, wasn't it?" He asked slowly, realizing what must have happened. "Lona.... You're sure that she...." Fear washed over him as he thought of what might have happened. If ANY of that drug had gotten to her, Louis knew it would be almost certainly fatal considering her injuries.

"She's fine, Dad. You got the IV out in time." Elmer said gently.  
He knew he needed to get his emotions under control, needed to stop crying and do something to fix this but.... "You just stay still right now, okay?  
I'm going to have this fixed in just a few minutes." K, he thought it was vitamin K that he needed but where.... Hook's Kingdom, maybe? He seemed that have just about everything down there, after all. Surely he would have the medicine that his dad needed. "Just stay still. You're going to be fine. I promise. You're going to be fine."

Louis slowly shook his head as it sank in what had happened. He reached out, fumbling before snagging his son's hand in fingers that were rapidly growing numb. The only thing about this that he regretted was that he wouldn't be able to see Elmer one last time before he went. 


	35. chapter 35

"Dad?" Elmer almost jumped in surprise when he felt his father suddenly grab his hand. "Dad, please, just stay still okay?" He didn't release his grip on his father's hand, though, holding it loosely to avoid too much pressure that could trigger bleeding and yet in a surprisingly secure grip. "I know that I mess things up a lot but I promise that I'll get this fixed in just a few minutes, okay?" He could feel himself starting to babble a bit but didn't he have more than a sufficient reason considering what was happening? He had just seen something that he was now sure was a ghost attack and nearly kill his father. A ghost. He shook his head at that. Did Dr. James know that the dead were still seeing patients?  
"You probably need to talk to Dr. James about that thing when we get out of here, you know. Does the hospital insurance cover us if the dead visit the patients? Just stay still right now, okay? I promise that I'm going to fix this. Hook probably ha exactly what you need down in his room. He has everything else down there, after all. It's going to be okay. I promise."

"Elmer...." Louis could feel his strength slipping rapidly away,  
much too fast for anything that anyone could do to try to prevent what he knew was coming. He felt tears starting to prick at his eyes. He wasn't afraid to go, knew he had had a good life although not always the happiest,  
knew that he would be with Emma and Edgar once more. The thought of leaving Elmer though, leaving him without being able to see his son one last time....

Elmer could barely hold it together as he looked down at his father. He was slipping away. Elmer could tell he was slipping away and that he knew it too. No, he couldn't.... Where were Hook and Chris? He couldn't leave his dad and Lona alone but if he didn't get that medicine quickly.... "Dad, it's going to be okay, I promise. You just stay still and try to rest right now, okay? It's going to be fine. I'm going to fix this."

"Elmer, it's alright." Louis said quietly. He could tell from the sound of his son's voice that Elmer was on the verge of total panic. He wished there was something that he could do to comfort him, some way to spare him seeing this but.... "You just worry about taking care of Lona right now, alright? She...."

"Lona's fine. And I promise you're going to be fine too." Elmer looked over at Blondi and the anteater as he spoke. Maybe he could stick a note around one of their necks and send them to find Hook and Chris?

'I am not Lassie.' Antibus said with a snort as he came a bit closer, leaning down and sniffing Louis tentively. Something definitely needed to be done for this one fast, though; 'I suppose I could go and fetch whatever you need, though. What is it? And are you sure you know?'

Was he sure? Elmer couldn't swear to it but.... "Vitamin K"  
That was right. He was almost sure that was right.

'Fine.' The human had hesitated a bit on that reply, though.  
'I'll bring back some other vitamins as well, in case. We'll probably need them.' He looked down at Louis for a moment before turning with a twitch of his tail and heading for the door. 'Just don't go anywhere if you hear any bells and you'll be fine. And if you happen to see any little girls,  
just tell her to go back upstairs.'

"What was that?" Louis muttered softly. He heard another voice but it was strange and what it was saying made no sense to him.

"Hopefully that isn't just a figment of my imagination." Elmer said as he snagged another blanket and covered Louis as best he could while still clinging to his father's hand. "It went to go get the medicine you need. You just stay really still for me for a few more minutes and I'll have you all patched up, okay? You're going to be fine."

"Elmer...." Louis didn't think he could do this, didn't think he could say goodbye to his son and yet at the same time what other choice did he have? He could barely hold his eyes open now and his strength was fading fast. "Elmer, there's nothing you can do. It's too late."

"No! No it isn't!" Elmer said fiercely as tears started to run down his cheeks. "You're going to be fine!" His dad was going to be fine.  
He had to be! They had saved Lona and they would save his father as well!  
"Please, just hang on for me for a few more minutes, okay? I'll have this fixed in a few more minutes. You're going to be fine!"

"Elmer, it's alright. I'm okay with it, I promise. I'll be with your mother and Edgar again and.... This isn't your fault. There was nothing you could have done, I promise."

"No. No, you're not going anywhere! Please...." How could his dad be.... "Please, just hold on a few more minutes, okay? I'm going to fix this and...." Why would his dad want to bother staying with him,  
though? The little voice in the back of his head was nagging at him. He seemed pretty eager to go and be with Edgar. Why would he want to stay with a loser when he could be with his good son instead?

"Dad, please, I know I'm a bad son." Elmer whispered. "Please,  
you have to stay with me, though. I know I've been bad and I've treated you terribly and.... I love you! I have to hold on for me, okay?  
Please!"

"Elmer, you were a better son that I deserved." Louis felt his eyelids starting to slide shut once more but he fought against it. He had to tell Elmer how he felt before he went, couldn't go without letting his son know how much he was loved. "You were my miracle and I failed you.  
You'll never know how sorry I am for that. Please, just remember how much I love you, though. I love you and I am so, so sorry that I've hurt you so much. Please.... I love you." As he spoke he reached up, gently touching his son's face, wiping away some of the tears. Elmer would be alright.  
Hook would look after him and Lona.... They would make sure he got through this.

"Dad, please.... You have to hang on for me." Elmer told his father firmly although the panic in his voice was more than audible. "Dad,  
I need you! You have to hang on for me, now." He was fading right before his eyes. Elmer was barely able to hold back yet another sob as he realized that his father was slipping away, faster and faster.... "Dad!"

"I'm sorry, Elmer. I'm so sorry." Louis didn't want it to end like this, to put his son through such pain but.... "Elmer, it will be okay. You're stronger and smarter than you think and there's never been a time when I wasn't proud to call you my son. You were a better son than I deserved and I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that. I never loved your brother more that I love you. You were my miracle, the child I didn't think I would ever even get to hold and I failed you. I am so sorry.  
Please...." He reached up, gently touching Elmer's face. "I love you.  
I want you to remember that. I love you so much and I promise that I'll be looking down on you every day and looking out for you. I love you.  
Promise me you'll remember that."

"Dad?" Did his father mean it? Elmer wanted to think that he did but.... Now wasn't the time to think about that, though, not when his father needed help. "Dad, listen to me. You aren't going anywhere. I'm going to fix this and you're going to be fine! You just have to hang on for me, okay?" How much blood had his father lost inside? From the amount of the bruising, he knew it had to be a lot but.... Elmer shook his head his mind running over possible things that he could try to fix this. He couldn't loose his father! A moment later, his eyes fell on the IV tubing his dad had used to do the transfusion from him to Lona. Maybe....

"Dad, it's going to be okay. I'm going to get this fixed." Elmer was afraid to budge from his father's bedside but he knew he had to if he was going to help him. "Just stay still. You're going to be fine." He jumped up, racing practically for the tubing, taking a glance at Lona to make sure she was still stable but not pausing.

"Okay." Elmer rubbed Louis's hand slightly before turning his arm out a bit. He could do this. He was sure he could do this. "Okay, dad,  
I'm just going to get this fixed now, okay? You just rest and try to save your strength. I'll have you all fixed in just a few minutes."

"Elmer? What are you doing?" Louis whispered. His body was practically numb by this point and he didn't even feel the needle slip into his arm under his son's trembling hands.

"Saving you. It's going to be okay, Dad. I promise you." The attachment in his arm was easier, still in from the blood he had donated to Lona. He quickly finished attaching the IV and started it running. This had to work. It just had to. He couldn't lose his father, not now!"

"Just hand on, Dad. I love you. Please, just hand on." he whispered as he watched the blood starting to slowly run down the IV line heading for his father's body. This had to work! He couldn't lose his dad now! 


	36. chapter 36

Louis suddenly let out a gasp as he realized what his son had to be trying to do. "Elmer, no!" His voice was weak but as firm as he could make it under the circumstances. He struggled to force his fingers to move, to try to remove the IV line. No, he couldn't let Elmer do this. He had already given too much blood to Lona. If he lost much more....

"Don't move. Just stay still, okay? You're going to be fine.  
You're going to be feeling a whole lot better in just a few minutes, I promise." Elmer could already feel the rush of dizziness as the blood drained from him but he struggled against it. He had to stay awake,  
couldn't let his dad down now, not like he had disappointed him so many times before. He tightened his grip on his father's hand slightly, keeping him from trying to pull out the IV line. "Dad, just lay still. I know what I'm doing."

"Elmer, no!" Louis struggled to free his hand, knowing he was too weak at this point to succeed but having to try anyway, having to try to protect his son. He couldn't let Elmer do this. "Elmer, please, it's too late. Don't do this."

"It is not too late! You're going to be fine!" Elmer could feel the pain welling up inside, mounting grief at the thought of losing his father mingling with the dizziness of bloodloss to almost overwhelm him.  
"You're going to be fine! Please, dad, just hang on for me, okay?  
Please?"

"Elmer...." He couldn't free his hand, was too weak. No, he couldn't.... He could feel himself starting to slip towards unconsciousness but he struggled against it. If he passed out now, if he didn't get that IV line out before Elmer lost too much blood.... "Elmer,  
don't do this. I've had a good life and you, you're life is just starting.  
Don't risk yourself for me. I'm ready to go. Please.... Elmer, I love you. Don't do this."

"What if I'm not ready to let you go?" Elmer demanded. How could his dad expect him to not try to help him, to just let him die? "What if I'm not ready to loose both of my parents in the same month? Dad, please"  
Elmer chanced releasing his father's hand for a moment to reach out and touch his face. He was cold, so cold, his lips starting to take on the bluish tinge that Lona's had before he had fixed her lung. Sudden panic washed over him. His dad had hit the wall hard. Had that happened to him as well? "Dad, are you hurting anywhere?" He didn't dare risk any sort of poking about for injuries with the problem the warfarin was causing.  
"Dad?"

Louis shook his head slowly. Although he told himself that he would be okay with pain as long as he would have the chance to say goodbye to his son, to tell him how much he was loved, he was glad none the less that it seemed he had been spared that. Everything was blissfully numb and he could feel himself slipping away like falling into a welcome, eternal sleep.

"Dad, no, stay awake!" Elmer cried as he saw his father's eyes starting to slip closed. If his dad passed out now, then Elmer felt sure that there would be absolutely no chance of saving him. "DAD!" He felt himself beginning to hyperventilate as he frantically thought, searching for something, anything, that he could do to help his father. The dizziness from the blood being steadily drained from him was suddenly gone,  
totally pushed aside by the overwhelming fear. "Dad, you said you loved me! If you mean that, then stay awake for me! Please!"

Suddenly, Elmer head a faint moan from the table where Lona was lying causing him to look up. "Lona?" he called out for her, even more fear if that was possible hitting him as she moaned once more, weakly but as if she was in serious pain.

"Elmer?" Louis forced his eyes open once more at the sound of that moan. Was something wrong with.... No, nothing could happen to Lona.  
Despite what his son was feeling right now, Louis knew that Elmer would recover from the his loss after a time. If Lona died, though.... He knew all too well the pain that losing the woman you loved could bring. He would not let that happen to his son. "Elmer, go. Take care of her. She needs you."

His father's words cut through him like a knife. How could he not do anything that he could to help Lona? She was the love of his life,  
despite the fact she still seemed to think that his feelings were just a crush. Yet, he knew if he moved from his father's side now, if he stopped the transfusion and went to tend to Lona, it would mean his dad would have no chance of survival at all. How could he choose between them? The woman he loved or his father? How could he pick one over the other to die? 


	37. chapter 37

"Elmer," Louis struggled, forcing his eyes to stay open although the urge to give in, to slip into the welcoming blackness was almost overwhelming. He couldn't let Elmer do what he was doing, though, couldn't let his son risk first himself and then Lona in a futile attempt to save him. If Elmer lost her, Louis knew that his son would never forgive himself. "Elmer, go to her. Take care of her. Son, there's nothing you can do here. I'm so, so sorry but...."

Elmer's eyes moved back and forth from his father to Lona,  
frantically trying to think of something, anything that he could do. He couldn't leave his father's side, not now. If his dad didn't get the blood to replace what he was losing.... But Lona's moans were growing louder,  
now, obvious pain in her voice. How could he not do something to help her?  
but if he did, his father would die. How.... No, there had to be a way to save them both! There had to be!

"Elmer, please, don't do this to yourself." Louis said softly.  
"Help Lona." Should he tell his son what had happened before with the light? Would maybe the knowledge that there was nothing that he could have done, that there was nothing he could do now convince his son that the right course of action was to save Lona instead? "Elmer, I got hit in the head by one of the lights during the quake. It.... There's nothing you can do, son. Go to Lona. If you don't, it will haunt you forever." Maybe it was the bloodloss weakening him or his fears for his son but Louis felt a tear slip down his cheek. Emma, would she forgive him when....

"Like my mother's been haunting you?" Elmer said gently. "Dad, no one's going to be haunting anyone here. Believe me, his hospital doesn't need anymore ghosts." Well, the giant anteater that he wasn't sure actually existed mentioned a little girl. Perhaps that ghost could stay.  
"I'm going to fix this, I promise. I'm going to fix everything. You and Lona are both going to be fine."

"Elmer...."

"No, I'm going to fix this! Are you really that eager to go be with Edgar?" Elmer demanded as he looked down at his father once more before forcing himself to focus on the problem at hand. He couldn't leave his dad's side but Lona needed him too so how.... Even if he thought he was strong enough to do it, could figure a way to do it while keeping the IV line running, he didn't dare rink trying to move his father. Moving....

Suddenly Elmer's eyes fell on Blondi as suddenly formed. Okay, it was probably mounting weakness from the bloodloss that was leading him to think this could work but....

The dog looked suspiciously at the human. Humans looking like that with their eyes bright and not really focused never seemed to bode well and Blondi knew Elmer was one of the stranger humans around here. 'Whatever you're thinking....'

"Hey, you're supposed to help with security, aren't you? Well,  
this doesn't look very secure now does it?" Elmer couldn't believe he was arguing with Otto's dog, a dog that was now talking back to him but.  
The table Lona was on had wheels as well as a handle to adjust the height.  
If the dog could just nudge it over here, then he could take care of both of them and fix things!

'What do you think I am, Lassie? She was a girl.' Blondi said with a shake of his head. He supposed he ought to do something though.  
The human was right about it not being very secure down here.

"Actually, I think Lassie was a boy. Or was that maybe just some sort of urban legend?" Elmer muttered. He was relieved to see the dog heading over to the table and starting to nudge it, though. "The wheel lock! Push on the wheel lock to release it first!"

'What do you think I am, a puppy? I know more about these things than Bobby Druse, you know. Lost a patient for six hours, once.' the dog muttered as he nudged at the wheel, trying to release the lock for several moments before finally getting it to give so that the table would roll.  
'Where do you want her?'

"Elmer?" Louis called for his son. He could feel something, the blackness fading slightly and a wave of fear washed over him. The blood,  
he knew that if it was anything, it had to be that. How much blood was his son losing? "Elmer? Elmer, please, you have to stop this now! You have to go and look after Lona. Elmer, please, I swear to you that it's too late for me! There's nothing that you can...."

"Dad, be quiet! You're going to be fine! So just do what I tell you and let me take care of this, okay?" Elmer couldn't believe he had just said what he did to his father but.... He spoke once more in a gentler tone this time. "Dad, I'm sorry but I'm not ready to lose you here, okay? Please, you have to hold on for a few more minutes." That anteater if he hadn't been hallucinating it ought to be back with the medicine soon. Surely once he got that into his father, then everything would be fine. He just had to get the medicine and get Lona tended. They would both be fine.

"Elmer, Lona, she needs...." Why couldn't Louis make him understand t he was making a mistake that....

"Dad, I'm going to fix both of you, I promise." Elmer said gently.  
He could feel a wave of dizziness washing over him as he looked down at his father and then up as Blondi rolled Lona over to his side, nudging the table until he had turned it so her injured side was closest to Elmer. He struggled, forcing the dizziness away as best he could. He couldn't give in to it now, had to do whatever he could for his father and Lona. He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to either one of them. He fumbled with his free hand, trying to lower the table without jolting Lona too much.

"Lona? Sweetie?" Elmer called for her as soon as the table was down to a level he could reach fairly easily. He supposed the low setting had to be in case you had a midget doing an autopsy or something. He reached out, gently touching her face, checking her pulse. It was weak,  
not as weak as during surgery though. This time, he didn't hesitate as he nudged aside the blankets, putting a hand gently on her chest. He was trying to help, just trying to help and he had no time for anything sexual anyway. Lona would understand that.

As soon as he put his hand on her, gently feeling her breathing, he could tell what had happened. Somehow, the chest tube had been dislodged,  
causing the lung to start to collapse once more. He sighed slightly in relief. Okay, a collapsing lung wasn't good but he had fixed it before.  
He could fix it again.

"It's okay, Dad. Lona's going to be fine. I'll get her fixed right up and we'll have the medicine for you in just a few minutes.  
Everything's going to be fine. Both of you are going to be fine." Elmer said softly but firmly as he felt gently, trying to locate the tube so that he could reposition it. This was going to be okay. He wasn't going to lose either one of them. No way would he lose either one of them. 


	38. chapter 38

"Elmer?" Louis called once more for his son. He could hear him moving about, doing something but.... That IV line was looked up, steadily draining his son's blood. No, he couldn't.... His hand was free now and he reached out, struggling to find the line with numbed fingers, struggling to pull it free.; He knew it would mean death but if anything happened to his son.... no, he knew he couldn't live with that, not with losing another child. Not again.

"Dad, don't move!" Elmer spun, a wave of dizziness washing over him from the motion as he reached out, snagging his father's hand before he could dislodge the IV line. If that came out with the effects of the anticoagulant, he knew there was a chance he would be literally seeing his father bleeding to death outside as well as in. "It's okay. Lona's all fixed up now. We've just got to get you fixed up too and everything will be fine. Dad, please, for once, can't you just listen to me?" Elmer whispered, a bit of heartbreak creeping into his voice as he looked down at his father. "Please, dad!"

"Elmer...." Why couldn't he convince his son of the reality of the situation, that it was just too late for him? Although he didn't feel any pain, Louis could only assume that he was likely bleeding in his head due to whatever damage had taken his vision. And such bleeding was most likely lethal given their current circumstances. Louis could barely hold back tears now. He didn't want to die although he kept trying to cling to the belief that he would be okay with it. He didn't want to leave his son, not like this. What choice did he have, though? And what else could he do other than to try to convince Elmer of the futility of the situation, that there was absolutely nothing that he could have done to change things? If he didn't, he knew his son would blame himself forever.

"Dad?" Elmer looked closely at his father. Did it look like he might be about to cry? Had he ever seen his father cry before? "Dad?  
Please, I promise it's going to be okay in just a few minutes." Where was that anteater with that medicine? His father NEEDED it! "Dad, I'm so sorry I've been a bad son." Elmer whispered as he gently stroked his father's fingers with his own. "I know I'm not as good as Edgar but I promise I'll try harder to be what you want. Just please hang on for me for just a few more minutes, okay?"

"Elmer you're exactly what I want." Louis said gently. How had he messed things up so badly with his son, convinced Elmer that he was so unloved? He had NEVER meant to do that to his son. How had he failed him so badly? "Elmer, I swear to you that you have never been a disappointment to me. If anything, you ought to be disappointed in me for being such a bad father." How had this happened? Louis remembered the first time he had been finally allowed to hold his son, the things that he had promised.  
"I promised that I would love you and protect you and keep you safe." He didn't even realize that he was speaking out loud at this point. "I'm so,  
so sorry."

"Dad, it's not your fault." Elmer stared at his father in shock.  
Were those actually tears? His dad had to definitely be sicker than he thought if he was crying. "It's my fault. If I was a better son, then you wouldn't have to be upset with me all the time. Please, I can do better!  
I promise! Just please hold on for me for a few more minutes, okay? Dad,  
I need you!"

"And I need you. I need you to live for me." Louis said gently but firmly. He could definitely feel more than a bit of a change now with his condition. How much blood? How much blood had his son lost? Elmer still seemed functional but.... "Elmer, I lost your brother because I was a poor excuse for a father. If I loose you too, I couldn't live with that." The hand with the IV twitched before he slowly raised it, reaching up and touching his son's face. He almost gave in at that point. He could just feel the pain there. He knew he couldn't though, not if he wanted to protect his son like he had failed to do so many times before. "Elmer, I love you. I.... Please, don't do this. Just.... Please, don't risk yourself for me. There's nothing that you can do."

"Dad?" How could his father keep asking this of him, asking him to just sit there and let him die? "Dad, NO! You are going to be fine! I promise that you're going to be fine!" Elmer didn't care how much blood he had to give his father. He would give it all before letting his father die on him! Didn't his dad realize ho much he was hurting him, how it was breaking his heart that his dad seemingly would rather die than fight to stay here with him? Why wasn't he enough to fight for? "Dad!" He hesitated for a moment before speaking, trying to think of what might get through to his father. "If I'm not enough for you to consider being worth fighting to stay with then think about Lona! How do you think that she's going to feel if she wakes up and finds out you died because you tried to help her? Are you selfish enough to put her through that just so you can be with Edgar again?"

"I...." Why didn't his son understand? If it was simply a matter of having something that he cared enough about to fight for, then he would never give up, would never stop fighting. The thought of leaving his son alone was breaking his heart although he kept reminding himself that Elmer would be okay. "Elmer, I love YOU! Please...."

"If you love me," Elmer said in a tone that implied that he was more than a little sure that his father's claim to that was totally false,  
"then you can just stop talking about dying and let me help you! Or are you just wanting to make sure I feel nice and guilty for the rest of my life like you do for not saving Edgar or my mother?" He was getting angry once more, something that he definitely didn't want with his sick his father was but he just couldn't help it. Didn't his dad realize how much he was hurting him by not being willing to fight to stay with him, by not loving him enough to want to stay with him? "There was nothing you could do!  
Hook told me what happened with my mother and that there was absolutely nothing you could have done and.... There is something I can do to help you, though and you think YOU feel guilty? How do you think I'm going to feel if you die on me? Dad, please." This last bit slipped out with a sob. Elmer couldn't loose his father, he just couldn't. "Please, I love you. Please let me help you."

"Elmer...." Was he doing what his son was saying? Louis certainly didn't think so but.... "Elmer, I don't want anything to happen to you. I love you. If you loose much more blood...." And even if Elmer could somehow get some sort of medicine to counteract the warfarin, he didn't see how it could work in time to make a difference. "I love you. If anything happened to you...."

Before Elmer could speak, he heard a padding sound coming down the hallway and a moment later the anteater came in lagging a large bag in its mouth.

'You should see all of the stuff that's down in those rooms'  
Antubis said with a shake of his head as he dropped the bag at Elmer's feet and then surveyed the situation. 'My, isn't this cozy?' he snickered as he saw Lona next to them, the table lowered as low as possible. 'Thinking of doing some more naughty things?'

Elmer wasn't even listening, was instead frantically searching the bag the anteater and brought. Food, packages of cookies and other snacks.  
Hook wasn't going to be pleased about that. It looked like the anteater had raided whatever he used for a kitchen. "I thought I told you to bring medicine.' Elmer muttered under his breath before his eyes suddenly fell on the Vitamin K at the bottom of the bag under a candy bar. He eagerly grabbed it and snagged a syringe, starting to draw up a dose as quickly as he could. This was going to be okay. Everything was going to be fine now.

"It's okay, Dad." He said as he reached out, his hand trembling as he gently felt his father's other arm for a moment before inserting the needle and starting the injection. "Your medicine's here. You're going to be feeling a lot better in just a few minutes, I promise." It was going to be okay. His father was going to be fine now. 


End file.
